


The Stupid Decision

by ImmortalCoelacanth



Series: A Series of Stupid Decisions [1]
Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: AU, Gen, There is instant regret, Very mild shipping between OCs, teens being stupid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-14
Updated: 2017-12-23
Packaged: 2018-10-18 20:11:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 24,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10624275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImmortalCoelacanth/pseuds/ImmortalCoelacanth
Summary: A group of friends make what is arguably the most stupid decision of their lives by planning to break into an abandoned animation studio. Of course they thought nothing out of the ordinary would happen, the studio has been abandoned for a decade! What could go wrong? Now containing a short preview of the sequel: Stupid Compassion!





	1. The Plan

Andy was without a doubt one of the biggest morons she had ever met. He could be the utter definition of stupid sometimes and so were some of his decisions, like his most recent one.

It had been a calm Wednesday evening. Everyone had gone over to Drew's house to play some co-op video games. She had been utterly destroying Drew, much to his ever growing rage, when Andy had told them about his newest, and "absolute genius" plan.

Break into the abandoned Sillyvision animation studio.

The responses had ranged from laughter, from Drew, to an exasperated glare, from Shen. Everyone in town knew the story behind the studio. It had been abandoned for about a decade, and Sillyvision was responsible for making a hit cartoon series that rivaled even Disney's.

They were popular for making cartoons that appealed to both adults and kids. Cheerful, funny characters with some causal adult jokes thrown in for the parents who watched with their squealing children. Hell, she even had a plushie of the main character sitting in her bed room. It was a bit worn after the many years it had been with her, but it was still in pretty good condition.

While the studio made many characters, there were two they were famous for. Bendy the demon and Boris the wolf. Bendy being the mascot of their studio, as he was the more popular of the two.

Bendy and Boris, a pair that was almost as well-known as a certain mouse couple. Bendy with his satirical humor, and Boris with his calm and mature attitude, the grounding presence for Bendy. They often went on hilarious adventures that only grew more and more outrageous as time went on.

Most of the fans might have loved Bendy, but she had always been a fan of Boris. It was a shame they never made a plushie for him.

The studio was rolling in cash and at the height of the game when it all came crashing down. Suddenly employees were fired without warning, including Andy's uncle, which was probably where he gotten the stupid idea from in the first place.

His uncle had always loved telling Andy about what they did in the studio, the various animations they made or were in the process of making. Supposedly they were working on some special "anniversary episode" before everyone got fired. That sucked, the anniversary episodes were always the best!

Then the cartoons began to get, disturbing. References to satanic rituals, and outright torture soon became the themes of the future episodes, and the show was swiftly pulled due to plummeting ratings. The studio made less money and one of the co-founders was fired.

The original creator of the show, Joey Drew, was all alone. He tried to bring the show back to life. He locked all the doors to the studio and never left the building. Some say he's still there to this very day. Others say his ghost haunts the studio, still tormented by his cartoon's unfortunate end.

While the show was cut down in its prime, luckily enough it was put on the internet for people to watch and enjoy by the same co-founder who had gotten fired. Somehow the man, Lex was pretty sure his first name was Henry, was able to keep a copy of all the episodes and a couple years after the studio went down he uploaded them to a bunch of online sites so more people could continue to enjoy them. The cartoon soon gained a cult following and people were looking wherever they could to find more sweet, Bendy and Boris sustenance.

Few knew the exact location of the studio, which was probably another reason why Andy wanted to get in there, even though he was a germaphobe. Find all the good stuff then get out before anyone could stop them.

She sighed. The building was old and no one had bothered to maintain it. Even if they were able to get in, who knew what they would find.

"Lex, you okay?"

She looked down at the girl she had known for most of her life, her closest friend. Naomi was looking up at her, gentle brown eyes filled with worry. She snorted and ruffled her hair, ignoring the surprised yelp.

"Don't worry about me, I'm good."

Naomi huffed and crossed her arms. "You better be, I don't want you getting sick again!" There was no force on Earth that could have stopped her from smiling at that.

"Stop being such a worrywart, besides, we got bigger things to worry about."

Andy had planned the break in for that evening, a Saturday of course. Yes, exploring a decrepit animation studio was _exactly_ how she wanted to spend one of the most important days of the weekend.

Naomi smiled and clutched her sketchbook close to her chest. She was an up and coming artist, and she hoped to find some of the model work for the characters in the cartoons. The designs of the characters had always fascinated her, even as a child. She needed them now more than ever since multiple people had commissioned drawings of Bendy, and she was scared of getting some of the proportions wrong.

"So, what do you think we're going to find in there?"

"The decomposing corpse of Joey Drew." Lex knew the mental image would freak Naomi out.

"ALEX, NO!"

Alex, or Lex as most knew her by, let out a roaring laugh at the shout. She could never resist teasing Naomi! Naomi pouted and smacked the older teen on the arm. "It's not funny!"

"Hell yes it is." She wheezed out, wiping a stray tear from her green eyes. What a pair they must have looked like to the other people walking down the sidewalk. Two girls. One tall, super pale, with fuzzy, long brown hair. The other short, with soft brown skin (literally, Naomi lived for moisturizers), and straight, shoulder length dark brown hair that always smelled like peaches.

Quite the pair indeed. The compassionate artist and the aggressive, awkward nerd.

Lex finally stopped laughing and let out one final sigh. She turned to Naomi, grin plastered across her face. She felt _much_ better after that. It was almost as if all her concerns had disappeared.

They would be fine.

"You ready to get those character models?"

Naomi's beaming grin was brighter than the sun.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"Alright my fellow Bendy fans, today is the day we learn what is in that animation studio!"

"Spek fer yerselrf Andy."

"Dammit Drew, stop talking while you eat. You wanna choke or something?"

"Focus everyone!"

It was time. Everyone had agreed to meet at Shen's house since her parents were gone for the weekend. They were all clustered in the small living room. Lex, Drew, Shen, Naomi, and the ringleader himself, Andy.

Everyone was seated around the small dining table. Andy in all his short, freckled glory was sitting in one of the few chairs available, double checking their supplies. His short, choppy black hair constantly fell into his ice blue eyes, and his glasses were always falling down his face.

Even now as he read over the map, they needed to plan a route since the studio was on the outskirts of town, his glasses continued to slip off his face.

Shen was sitting beside him, not touching him of course, and also reading over the plans. She acted as a sort of unofficial second in command. Her dark brown eyes were narrowed as she intently checked over everything, occasionally pointing something out to Andy. Her long black hair was tied up in a ponytail, the ends dyed a rich, midnight blue.

It was better than the bubblegum pink she had last month, and it would blend in better while they made their way over. It was getting close to eight, so the sun had long since set.

Drew was crouched on the floor, snacking on a bag of pretzels. The hulking teen was the tallest out of the group and built like a mountain. His sandy blond hair was tied back in a man bun and his blue eyes were closed as he ate.

Naomi was sitting on the last available chair, drawing in her sketchbook. She was most likely working on one of her commissions. Lex peeked over her shoulder. Yup, it was Bendy dressed in a tutu, definitely a commission.

"You gonna be leaving that here, Naomi?" She nodded. "Yeah, I don't want my work to get ruined."

Lex hummed softly. "Understandable, and a smart idea."

Andy cleared his throat, it sounded a bit like his voice was cracking. "Alright, we have finalized our plans for Operation: Break In!"

"Oh my god, you _named_ it."

"Of course I did, dear Lexie." Lex normally would have smote the person who dared to change her nickname into something so... _ugh_ , but Andy was a friend, and a bit of an exception. "Alright, just try to make it less cheesy next time."

The teen nodded so viciously his glasses nearly flew off his face. "Anyways, we are prepared to begin the mission! Is everyone ready?"

Murmurs and nods filled the room. "Excellence, now we will leave in approximately ten minutes. You have until then to get changed, use the facilities, and eat if you have not." The groaning of the wooden floor momentarily filled the room as people began to move and get ready.

"Oh, and if any of you wish to leave this mission then you may, I am not keeping you here and your personal feelings should take priority." He added before everyone got up.

Andy stood tall as people began to move, and for a moment Lex remembered why she decided to stick with this group, aside from Naomi. Andy could be stupid sometimes, but he was damn good at planning and always looked out for those he cared about.

The group split up, each to take care of whatever they needed to. Shen walked over to Naomi and softly spoke to her. Together they left the living room and most likely went to Shen's room to get changed.

Lex, Andy, and Drew had all arrived in the clothes they were planning to wear for the _mission_. Lex was wearing her favourite dark grey windbreaker, dark blue jeans, and grey hiking shoes. She naturally favoured dark clothing.

Andy was decked out in a fashionable black button up with black dress pants. He was wearing his favourite white bowtie, an apparent exact replica of the one Bendy wore, and Lex swore she saw a pitch black balaclava sticking out of his bag.

Drew, of course, was wearing his usual grey pullover with some baggy sweat pants, the same grey as his pullover. It was his typical attire, and Lex knew he would wear it.

Lex took the chance to have a quick chat with Andy. She walked over as he checked his bag. Her shadow fell over him and he looked up. "Hello there, dear Lexie, are you going to be dropping out this fine eve?"

"Nah, I just wanna know about the contingency plans I know you have."

Andy sighed and pulled out one of the various notebooks he always carried with him. He was wearing a pair of black gloves now, which was not too unusual for him. Lex took a chance to peek in his bag. A literal shit ton of hand sanitizer and napkins in plastic bags. Not surprising.

Andy flipped through his notebook until he found the page he was looking for. He flipped it around and showed it to her, holding the book in his gloved hands. "Hm, so who's got the bat and crowbar?"

"Our dear Drew-Drew has them, along with a flare gun, some extra food, water, and flashlights."

Andy was always extremely over prepared for any trips they decided to go on. Spend a couple hours at the mall? He would bring enough food, water, and sanitizers for a small army!

Lex never wanted to think about where he got it all.

"So we have all that on top of what everyone brought?"

"Indeed! Now if you will excuse me I need to triple check my supplies!" And with that Andy promptly busied himself with counting over everything he had brought. Lex knew the conversation was over and decided to bug Drew for a bit.

"Hey Drew, what's up?" Drew looked up from his pretzels, about a quarter of the bag was left, and shrugged. "It's all good, I'm just chillin'."

"You ready for this?" Another shrug. "Yeah, you good Lex?"

Lex snorted and crossed her arms. "I'm fine, just a bit worried is all."

It was Drew's turn to snort that time. "Oh please, your girlfriend will be fine."

"Drew, shut the hell up, we're not dating!" Lex hissed at her friend.

"Aw, are you suuuuuuure about that?" He teased back, a faint smirk appearing on his face.

Lex rolled up her sleeves and was about five seconds away from punching him when Naomi and Shen walked back into the living room. Both were wearing matching dark blue sweaters and Naomi was wearing some kind of beanie. "We're ready to go now." Shen said, her faint Chinese accent standing out a bit.

Her accent tended to get stronger when she was nervous or stressed. Breaking and entering would probably make you feel pretty damn stressed, especially with the risk of getting caught.

"Excellence, shall we make our way to the animation studio then?"

No one said anything, but everyone grabbed their bags and got ready. It was late spring, so it was not too cool out. No heavy winter coats or boots were needed, which also meant their bags were far lighter.

Lex picked hers up, a small grey one shoulder that had a couple flashlights in it and stood by the door. Naomi walked over to join her. "So is your sketchbook in Shen's room then?"

Naomi nodded as she pulled her faux leather boots on. Her messenger bag swung back and forth with each movement. She stood up and brushed back the hair that had fallen in her face. "Lex, can you come here?"

The taller teen walked over to her friend, curious. "So, what is it?" Naomi pulled something out of her pocket and held it up for Lex to see. At that moment, Lex was not sure what expression she was making, but it was somewhere between awe and amazement.

It was a pin with a picture of Bendy and Boris on it. The entire pin was one solid shape and looked hand crafted. The characters were smiling at her, Bendy with his trademark grin and wink, and Boris with pure happiness radiating from his eyes.

It was incredible.

"Holy shit Naomi, where did you get that?" The girl smiled softly. "I ordered it from Forge, he does commissions and I got him to make this for you." It took a moment for the last words to register with Lex.

"Me?! The hell did I do to deserve something so cool?" Naomi kept smiling, and gestured for Lex to bend down a bit. She did just that and Naomi unzipped her wind breaker, pinning the button on her dark green shirt.

Lex stood back up and looked down at the elegant piece of work. It was beautiful and seemed to glow in the shitty lighting. She looked back up. "Thanks, Naomi."

"If you two lovebirds are done, we got a studio to get to!" The amused voice of Drew rung out behind them. Lex spun around and found Drew, Shen, and Andy watching her.

"Oh dammit, you couldn't have given us a moment?" She muttered, not bothering to address the tease. Drew snickered into his hand. "Nope, and like I said we got stuff to do, so let's get moving!"

Andy nodded, glasses sliding down his face. "Indeed, we must make our way to the animation studio if we wish to get there quickly enough!"

"Got it Andy, everybody ready?"

"Of course, since I wasn't busy trading gifts with my giiiiirlfriend."

"Drew I'm gonna smack the fu-" Naomi bumped Lex with her shoulder, stopping the curse before it left her mouth.

"I'm good, and so is Shen! Let's head out!" Naomi glared at Lex out of the corner of her eye, daring her to try and continue her threat. Lex liked living and wisely decided not to. Shen nodded in agreement to what Naomi said, her own one shoulder bag held in her arms.

"Excellence, let our journey begin!" And with that Andy opened up the front door and walked outside. Everyone followed him with Shen leaving last since she had to lock the door.

They were going to walk there since Andy figured it would be best to leave little to no evidence that they had been to the studio, and marks from bike tires were pretty obvious signs that someone had been there.

It would take them about a half an hour to get there with the route Andy planned. Lex sighed and walked beside Naomi, not too fast so the shorter girl could keep up. She could feel all her previous fears swarming around her.

There could be anything in that building, even the corpse of Joey Drew, and who knew if Andy's contingency plans would be enough. She closed her eyes for a moment, focusing on the wind that tangled her messy hair.

These people were her _friends_ , and they kept being her friends even with her shitty mood swings and temper. They never abandoned her and always stuck by her side. She owed them so much.

_I'll protect everyone from whatever might happen, no matter how dangerous it might get. Even if I might be getting paranoid about this, I'll still be ready._

_I have to be._


	2. The Break In

The abandoned animation studio was as decrepit and run down as Lex thought it would be, but being right did not make her feel any better. The building itself was also quite a bit larger than Lex originally thought it would be.

It was a run down, mainly wood building that seemed to only have one floor. The roof was cracked and broken in many places while the walls were crumbling. Some old posters had been stuck up on the front of the building, but they seemed to have almost completely torn off or rotted away.

There were no visible windows either, which Lex found to be very, very strange.

Even the parking lot in front of the building was cracked from the years it had been left unattended. Weeds popped up from various small cervices and most of the lines for the parking spaces had faded.

The place looked completely abandoned, and sent shivers down her spine for some reason.

_I don't like any of this._

She was unaware of the rest of her friends having similar thoughts. Even Andy seemed nervous and was far more reserved then he usually was.

"A-alright! The first phase of our plan shall begin with getting inside! Dear Lexie, Drew-Drew, if you two would please open the entrance."

Drew snorted and pulled the crowbar out of his bag. "Making us do all the tough stuff now, Andy?" The tease was easily heard in his tone, obvious enough for Andy to understand it.

Lex took her bag off and tossed it to Naomi, who barely managed to catch it before it hit the floor. Together Lex and Drew walked to the boarded up door to the studio. "Hey Drew, this place giving you the creepy feels?"

"Yeah, I'm getting bad vibes from this place. We go in, get what we need, then leave." Lex nodded as she looked over the door, trying to find the best spot to get started.

"Sounds like the best plan Drew." A well-rotted wooden plank caught her eye. That was their way in!

"I think that's our way in." She pointed the spot out to Drew. He grunted and got the crowbar ready. With one sharp tug the wooden plank snapped, allowing the duo to clear it out. They continued like that for several minutes since there were at least ten boards covering the door.

"Hm, whoever boarded this place up didn't want anyone getting in." Lex muttered as she ripped out another broken board. Drew did not respond, too focus on trying to clear a path. Eventually all the boards had been taken down and the door was revealed, just as decrepit as the rest of the building.

_Ten years really did a number on this place…_

Drew smirked and grabbed the door handle. He turned the knob and pushed it open, or tried to. The door held fast, refusing to move. He tried pulling. Nothing happened.

"It's a push door you moron." The tease turned into a bit of an insult at the end because her nerves were on edge for some reason. It made her a bit more mean and bitchy then usual. Their surroundings were unnaturally silent, and there was tension in the air.

"I tried that Lex, but the door won't open!" Drew grunted out as he tried shoving the door open once more. Even if he used all of his strength, the damn door just would not open! Lex joined Drew and they both tried to shove the door open.

They pushed with all their might, but still nothing happened. "Okay, this is freaking ridiculous! Why the hell won't it open?!" Lex shouted in frustration.

Shen, Andy, and Naomi were all watching as the duo continued to fail at opening the door. "Hey Shen, you took kickboxing classes right?" Naomi said as she faced the other girl. Shen nodded and immediately knew what Naomi was going to ask.

"You want me to kick the door down, right?"

"If you can, and try not to hurt yourself." Shen nodded and marched over to the door. Lex and Drew quickly moved out of the way. "Good luck trying to break it Shen! I think there's more boards on the other side or something!" Lex shouted as she quickly backed up.

Shen said nothing as she stopped in front of the door. Her body shifted into a fighting stance and her hands went up. She lifted her left leg up and time seemed to slow down as everyone waited for Shen to break the door down.

With a yell, Shen kicked the door with all of her strength!

And nothing happened once again. "YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!" Lex roared.

Shen was frozen as she continued to stare at the door. Naomi, concerned by her lack of movement, walked over and gently put a hand on her shoulder. "Shen, are you okay?"

The girl managed a shaky grin before falling over. Naomi yelped, catching everyone's attention. Drew barely managed to catch the collapsing girl before she hit the ground. "Damn Shen, you good?"

The girl groaned and clutched her leg. "It f-feels like I broke my foot." She muttered between clenched teeth. Shen was not one for showing pain, something she had learned from Lex, and did her best to hold back the pain induced tears building up in her eyes.

"Don't worry, I can carry you for as long as you need." Drew remarked, a faint smirk on his face. The sounds of footsteps broke the two up as Andy rushed in to check on Shen. "Oh no, my dear She-Shen, are you alright?"

While this was going on Lex slowly felt her rage beginning to build. The door was stupid, Shen had hurt herself trying to get in, and the sooner they got what they needed the sooner they would be out of this creepy place.

She was pissed, and used that to her advantage.

With a shout fueled by anger, Lex rushed the door, smashing into it shoulder first. What no one expected was for the door to give right away, and Lex landed with a loud _thud_ on the wooden studio floor, a cloud of dust erupting around her form. Shattered wooden planks surrounding her. There were nowhere near as many as there were on the other side of the door, but it was enough to make it a bit tough to open the door.

"Holy shit Lex that was amazing!"

"Dear Lexie, are you alright?"

"Damn Lex, of course _you_ would have gotten in!"

"Lex you idiot! Are you okay?" That was Naomi. Even with her aching head Lex recognized that concerned voice.

Lex groaned and coughed as a decade's worth of dust floated around her face. "I'm good, just dusty." She sneezed and groaned once again.

"Well at least you didn't take the door down with you." Drew said as he walked over to Lex, Shen resting on his back.

"Shut it, Drew."

"Focus everyone, we have found a way in thanks to dear Lexie's efforts, but we still need to find what we are looking for."

Naomi offered the downed girl a hand, which Lex gratefully accepted. She pulled Lex up as Andy walked over to join them. Naomi then handed Lex her bag back, which she gratefully put back on. All was silent as they took in the decrepit studio. "Damn, this place is messy."

Both the floor and ceiling seemed to be made of wooden planks, with many either sticking out or missing. Posters covered the walls, each advertising a different episode. A strange black substance dripped from the ceiling near one of the posters.

The creepy feeling had gotten far worse, and they were barely in the studio.

Granted the fact that the lights were somehow still working probably helped to enforce that creepy feeling. "This place has been abandoned for ten freaking years and it still has power?!"

Drew shrugged, jostling Shen a bit. "Who knows how much that Joey dude paid off before he went batshit. If there was enough money left over to pay the bills then the bank probably didn't bother to question it."

"But still, it's creepy as hell."

Shen cocked her head to the side. She could faintly hear... something. The girl let out a sigh and lightly smacked Drew's head, ignoring his surprised yelp. "Shhhh, don't you guys hear that?"

Silence descended over the group as they all tried to hear whatever Shen was talking about. The faint dripping noise echoed throughout the studio as that fluid continued to leak from, wherever, but there was another noise. It sounded like...

"Machinery." Lex muttered, now recognizing the sound.

"It sounds like something has power, but I don't know what it is."

"Oh Shen, I'd totally expect you to know what _exact_ machine that is based off the _tiny fricking noise_!"

"Everyone calm down, we will do what we came here to and leave. I-I do not want to spend more time here than we need to." Andy was nervous, the faint cracking of his voice giving it away.

Shen frowned down at him from Drew's back. "Andy, we can leave if we need to..."

The boy shook his head. "No, I am fine, I just feel... strange here."

"It's creepy as hell." Lex repeated as she crossed her arms, Drew nodding in agreement.

While the majority of the group had been discussing the studio, Naomi had walked over to the fluid dripping down from the ceiling. She reached a hand out and caught a bit of it. She lifted it to her face and gently sniffed at it. The scent was familiar to the artist.

_Wait, this is..._

"It's ink!" The girl shouted, attracting the group's attention. She rolled the ink between her fingers, the shiny black substance standing out against her warm, brown skin. It was cool to the touch and did not seem to be warming up.

Lex was the first to reach her, and without warning she grabbed Naomi's arm. "Lex, w-what?" The girl squeaked in surprise. Lex ignored her and pulled out the tissues Andy had given her on the way over.

"If this shit is ink, then who knows how old it is. You might get ink poisoning or something." She muttered as she scrubbed it off of Naomi's hand.

She ignored the kissing noises Drew was making. She ignored it with _every fiber of her being..._

Andy nodded, looking more and more nervous as time went on. "Dear Lexie is correct, do not touch... that. It is probably filthy!"

Drew grunted, having stopped teasing Lex, and began walking into the next room. "Let's just get this over with." Andy followed him while Shen continued to cling to his back, sending worried looks to Andy every so often. Naomi and Lex quickly followed.

The next room was quite large, and contained many different furniture sets. Naomi walked over to the design table in the corner with Lex while Drew, Shen, and Andy investigated the, somehow, functional projector.

Andy checked it over, not touching the dusty machine as he tried to figure out how it was still working, and where the eerie music was coming from. Drew and Shen both watched, each feeling shivers run down their spines.

Something about this place was... wrong, but they could not put their finger on what it was.

Naomi squealed with glee as she spotted several drawings of Bendy. She quickly pulled a couple plastic sleeves out of her side bag and put the drawings in them. "I thought you only wanted the character models?" Lex quipped as Naomi placed the sleeves in her bag.

"Oh hush, if anything these will help if I need to make close ups, the character models won't be good enough for that." Lex snorted, not buying that one bit.

"Alright, just don't take _everything_ , okay?"

Naomi nodded with a beaming grin on her face. Together they walked back over to the rest of the group. "So what's up with this creepy ass thing?"

Andy hummed softly as he looked it over. "Logically, this projector should be a rusting heap of metal, but it still functions. I have absolutely no idea how."

Lex frowned and crossed her arms. She was beginning to get used to the creepy vibe, but that did not mean she liked it. She spotted the Bendy cutout sitting beside the projector. Ugh, something else that added to the creep factor.

While the eyes were lifeless, it almost felt as though they were watching her...

"Hey Lex come on, we're gonna explore the rest of the studio!" Naomi called out from a doorway. They group had moved during the girl's staring contest with the cutout, and Naomi figured it was best to bring Lex with them.

"I'm coming!" She called back and, with one last suspicious glance at the cutout, followed Naomi.

Up ahead in the next room the duo heard a shout of "WHAT THE FUCK?!" from Drew. They quickly rushed over, passing by a chair that had an old Bendy plushie sitting in it.

"Oooooh, what the fuuuuck is that?" Lex asked as she joined back up with the group, Naomi not far behind.

"I have no damn clue, all I know is it's super creepy." Drew answered as his eyes ran over the text once again. Written in dripping ink on the wall was a single phrase that made goosebumps rise on Lex's arms.

" _Dreams Come True"_

Shen, who was now standing beside Drew, limped up to the ink and cautiously touched it. It was dry. "It's old, but the ink from the ceiling is not." Shen muttered. Why on Earth had someone written it on the wall? Did they do this after the studio closed?

Were these the last words of Joey Drew?

They too many unanswered questions for Shen's taste and she knew it would drive her crazy not knowing the answers. Andy was unusually quiet during all of this so Shen shuffled over to check on him.

"Hey Lex, look what I found-hey, what's going on?" Naomi ran up to them, the Bendy plushie held in one hand.

"Oh you know, it's just some creepy ass writing on the wall, nothing else."

"Lex we don't need your sarcasm right now."

"L-let us keep moving." Andy said, interrupting the beginnings of an argument. No one disagreed, wanting to get out of the studio but still far too curious to leave just yet.

Together they walked down the long hallway, not bothering to check any doors, even if the lights were on. No one wanted to see what was behind them. Lex stayed at the front of the group with Naomi and Andy not too far behind while Shen and Drew remained at the back, ready to protect their younger friends.

Lex paused as she read the sign on the room at the end of the hallway. "Ink Machine? The hell is that?" No one answered, but she did not expect one. The girl rushed ahead into the next room.

Ink still leaked from the ceiling which made Lex think there were pipes full of it that ran throughout the entire building. It was the only explanation, plus she could occasionally see some of the pipes emerge from the walls or ceiling. The massive hunk of machinery took up the majority of the room. It looked like a bunch of parts that had been thrown together, but they all seemed to fit.

Lex paused in front of the strange machine. She heard footsteps and Andy quickly rushed up to join her. "W-what could this strange contraption be?"

"I wonder how you turn it on." Drew said as he joined them. Shen and Naomi were still at the doorway. "Shen, Naomi, you guys okay?"

They both nodded, still staying away from the machine. "I don't want to get any closer, it feels... _wrong_ " Shen said as she took a step back.

Lex frowned, she had not expected anyone to have fun on this "mission" but she had not expected it to get so, tense, either. Andy was checking out the machine with Drew while Naomi and Shen stood near the door.

This was not good for anyone.

"How about this, we turn the machine on, see what it does, and then we leave." Everyone agreed with the new plan, curiosity still driving them to try and figure out what was going on.

"I do not see a start button on this machine, so I assume it must be located in another room."

"Then let's go find it already!" Lex normally would not be this bossy, but the studio and how freaked out her friends were was beginning to stress her out.

Together they walked down the next hallway in the same formation they had in the first hall. Lex followed by Naomi and Andy, and the Drew and Shen taking up the rear. They stayed close together, not wanting to get separated from each other in the studio.

As Lex reached the end of the hallway she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. She turned and...

"HOLY SHIT WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS THAT?!"

Her loud shout drew the rest of the group's attention. They rushed up to join her. "Lex, what's going on?" Shen asked as she was the first to reach her, the pain in her foot fully gone at this point.

Lex did not say anything, she only pointed at the... thing at the end of the hall.

"What the hell is that?"

"Holy shit!"

"Goodness, what on Earth _is_ that?"

"I-is it d-dead?"

There was a dead body strapped to a table at the end of the corridor, and the corpse was not human.

Drew hesitantly walked towards the room. Lex had have a mind to start shrieking at her friend, but Naomi stopped her by grabbing her hand. "It's alright Lex, i-it looks dead..." She muttered, squeezing her hand.

"I'm pretty sure anything that has its ribs exposed like that is dead, Naomi." The younger girl snorted softly at the snarky comment. She was happy to see Lex was not too phased by the sight. They both walked after Drew together, Naomi still holding Lex's hand.

Shen decided to stay behind with Andy. The poor guy could hardly handle gore and she had heard him start to gag the moment he saw the gruesome scene. "Don't worry Andy, you're fine." She said as Andy clung to her, one gloved hand weakly grasping her own.

Andy never touched people, even with some kind of glove on, so he must have been far more upset then Shen thought.

While Shen watched over Andy the trio had finally reached the room. It stank of ink, and something else that almost reminded Lex of blood. The faint metallic tang stung her nose and made her cough.

Drew stepped closer to the corpse on the table. The rips were sticking out and all the organs that should have been in its chest were missing. Ink was splattered around its ruined form. Now that he had a closer look, it actually looked quite familiar to him...

It was not until he saw the familiar poster resting in the corner of the room that he realized why the body was so familiar. "Oh n-no, i-it's Boris..." Lex gasped, the only time he could ever remember hearing something like that from her, and rushed over to join him, leaving Naomi close to the doorway.

"You have got to be freaking kidding me." She said, not wanting to believe Drew, but the evidence sat in front of her. The character that she had cherished for most of her childhood, the one whose face rested upon the pin she was wearing.

It was Boris, and he was dead.

Lex quickly walked out of the room, trying to ignore the stinging tears in her eyes. Had Boris actually been _alive_ for all those years? Was that why he always looked so animated and real in the cartoons? If he was real, who killed him?

So many questions, and so few answers.

She knew it was stupid to get upset over something like this, but dammit that cartoon character had been like a friend to her growing up! A damn role model!

Naomi quickly joined Lex. "It's alright." She said, voice gentle and full of warmth. Lex spun around and hugged the younger girl, burying her face in the beanie covering her hair. It smelled like peaches, not even the oppressive stench of ink could mask it.

Naomi could feel Andy and Shen's curious gazes on her, but she ignored them in favour of trying to help Lex. Murmuring softly to her as Lex got her breathing under control.

Drew, who had finally stopped looking at the cartoon's corpse joined them. Shen went to ask him what happened, but Drew simply shook his head. "It was Boris."

"So he was _alive_ then? But that's not possible!"

"I know, but I also know what I saw, and that thing is, or was, Boris."

Andy sighed, it was shaky, another indicator of how anxious he was getting. "L-let us keep moving, I d-do not want to be near this room anymore." No one disagreed, still too stunned by the discovered corpse, and they walked down the next hallway and into the new room.

This one was filled with empty pedestals, and a large lever rested on the opposite wall. Above it was a sign that said "Main Power" with a small lightning emblem. "Huh, so I guess this is where we turn on the power."

Lex walked up to it and hesitantly pulled the lever down. Nothing.

"Well shit, I guess we might not be turning this thing on after all."

Naomi, who had been looking at the pedestals, noticed something about the images behind them. "Wait, that looks like..." She held up the plushie in her hand and compared it to the image.

A perfect match.

Naomi gently placed the plushie on the pedestal, and jumped back with a yelp when it made a faint _whirring_ noise. Everyone spun around and faced the startled girl. "Naomi, you alright?" Lex asked as she made her way over.

"I-I'm fine, just surprised. I think I might have found out how to power this place."

"... We really need to put those items on the pedestals to get the machine working?"

"Yup!"

"Damn this place is weird."

"Alright then, everyone, what I recommend is that we split up into two groups and search for these items in order to complete this task faster!" Lex was all for getting out of this damn place faster, but she was not too keen on splitting up.

"Before we do that, how about we check to make sure we all have cell service here? Just so we can keep in contact while we look." Ah, thank Shen and her common sense.

Everyone double checked their phones, and Drew even sent out a text message in their group chat. They had service, they could keep contact with each other, and they would be fine.

They would be fine.

So they split up, Naomi and Lex would focus on searching this area while Drew, Andy, and Shen went back and checked the first area.

Or they would have if one of the many Bendy cutouts did not jump scare them. "WHAT THE FUCK!" Lex shouted as she turned a corner and found one of the cutouts staring at her.

"Where on earth did that come from!?"

"I don't know, its mother maybe!"

"Lex, calm the sarcasm!"

"OH LIKE YOU CAN BE CALM RIGHT NOW?! NO ONE'S HERE, IT'S JUST US, AND THIS DAMN THING _MOVED_!"

"Chill you guys!"

Lex frowned and crossed her arms. She could _feel_ the hairs on the back of her neck sticking up. That usually only meant one thing.

She was being watched, and it sure as hell was not by any of her friends.

"Let's just get this over with." She muttered, knocking over the cutout as she walked past it, Naomi following her after a moment.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"Alright, so what was it we need to get again?"

"Drew I already told you, we need to find a gear, a wrench, a book, some round thing that looks like a record, and an inkwell since Naomi already got the plushie."

"Cool, so how hard do you think it's gonna be?"

Shen shrugged as they continued to walk down the hall back to the first room they were in. "I don't know, but it shouldn't be too bad."

"Yeah, I think I remember seeing a gear near a Bendy cutout or something, so we should check there for that."

"Indeed, hopefully dear Naomi-mi and Lexie will be able to find some of the items we require."

"Yeah, let's do this!" Drew cheered, throwing his hands up in the air.

Shen smirked at his enthusiasm. Leave it to Drew to find something to be happy about, even after the situation with the cutout. Speaking of which...

Shen looked around and found one of them leaning against a wall, but she did not remember there ever being one there. It stared at her with a cheerful, empty expression. She shuddered. Lex could get paranoid about things, but there certainly was something wrong here.

"Dear She-Shen, are you okay?" Andy sounded concerned, which was highly unusual.

"I'm fine Andy, this place just creeps me out." She responded, still keeping an eye on that damn cutout. The smile almost seemed to be mocking her.

"Hey you guys, I found the gear!" Drew shouted from down the hall, the object tightly clutched in one hand.

"It seems as though we will not be spending much time here after all." Andy said with a faint grin on his face.

"I hope so." Shen muttered, gaze flickering from Drew back to the cutout. It was barely noticeable, but she had seen it.

The cutout had moved almost an inch to the left all on its own.

The girl cursed softly and quickly nudged Andy forward. Shen wanted to get the hell out of there as soon as possible, and she hoped Naomi and Lex were not dealing with the same supernatural phenomena.

She pulled out her phone and sent a quick text message to the other group, informing them that the gear had been found.

There were so many things wrong with this place, she could feel it. Was this why the studio had randomly shut down all those years ago? Did a ghost start haunting the staff? A demon? She gnashed her teeth. There were still so many unanswered questions, and every second spent here seemed to answer none of them.

"Come on Shen, let's keep going!"

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

A faint _ding_ echoed in the hallway, startling the duo. Lex pulled her phone out of her pocket and checked it. "Huh, looks like they found the gear."

"Well that's good, hopefully we'll be able to find the other things soon!"

"Yeah, I just wanna get the hell out of this damn place."

The girls had been exploring the rooms not too far from the ink machine. So far they had found nothing, which Lex found to be rather unfortunate. She wanted to get out of there _now_ , and not bother turning on that stupid machine.

The only plus side was that Naomi found more character models, for both Bendy _and_ Boris this time. She had eagerly placed them in plastic sleeves before putting them in her bag. As she was putting the last one in her bag she paused for a moment and looked at it.

"Hey Lex, the studio's been abandoned for about a decade right?"

"Yup." She said as she searched through the small piles of rubble. The items could be hidden anywhere, and she thought it was best to check everywhere.

"So shouldn't the paper be rotting or something?" Lex paused, the thought echoing through her mind.

_Wait... the roof's all torn up so water should be leaking in here, but it's not, there's just ink. Even then there should be rot all over the place since this entire building seems to be made out of wood!_

_Why, why is everything in almost perfect condition?!_

If one took away all the cracks in the walls, the leaking ink, and the occasional messes, the building could easily be used once again! Hell, there was still power!

"I-I honestly have no idea Naomi, all I know is that I like this place less and less the more time we spend here."

Naomi nodded and together they walked into the next room. It appeared to be a room where episodes would be screened, complete with a large projector built into the wall and chairs clustered around the projection screen.

"Alright, you check out the chairs, I got the projector."

"Got it!"

Naomi looked around the chairs but found nothing except for a couple sheets of blank paper, probably for taking notes. She sighed in frustration but continued searching, just to make sure she did not miss anything.

Lex had a bit more success in her mission. She had found the inkwell hidden on the floor behind some wood. She opened her mouth to call Naomi over, but noticed something that made her pause.

Sitting in the wall beside where she had found the inkwell was a single button with the words "Flow" on it. She looked up, above that was a sign that read "Ink Pressure". _Ink pressure? I wonder if this is for the machine..._

She pressed the button. Nothing happened. "Huh, I guess this needs power too."

"Lex, what're you doing!"

The girl yelped and jumped back. "Oh Naomi, don't _do_ that!" Lex nearly shouted, heart hammering against her chest. Naomi laughed before noticing the inkwell in her hand. "Oh, you found it! I'll send a message to the others!"

"What? You not gonna apologize for scaring the living daylights out of me?"

"Nah. Think of it as revenge for making me think of a dead body this morning." Lex huffed, crossing her arms.

"Well I think I found something else for the machine too, but it doesn't seem to be working."

"Maybe after the power turns on then it can be used?" Lex nodded. "Yeah, I thought about that too."

"Anyways, did you find anything?" Naomi shook her head. "Nothing but a bunch of blank papers, we'd better check somewhere else."

They left the room, and Lex did everything in her power to ignore the eyes that watched them.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

A soft _chime_ echoed throughout the hallway and Shen grabbed her phone out of her pocket. She checked the message, a faint smile appearing on her face. "Looks like Lex found the inkwell, so that means we're just missing the book, the wrench, and the round thing."

"Shen I _swear_ it's a record, I listen to them all the time!"

"We'll see when we find it Drew."

"It appears as though we a near the ink machine! We should be able to find the wrench here!" Andy rushed ahead into the next room. Drew hung back with Shen, wanting to speak with her.

"So Shen, when are you gonna tell him?" Shen looked over a Drew, a puzzled expression on her face.

"Tell him what?" The smooching noises Drew made were her answer. "Dammit Drew, stop shipping people already! Lex was right, you _are_ a serial shipper!"

"I can't help it, Lex and Naomi would be awesome together, and so would you and Andy! Besides, you've helped Andy so much, I'd be hella surprised if he didn't have feelings for you!" Shen snorted and crossed her arms, a habit she had picked up from Lex.

"Drew, you know he can't-" "I found the wrench!"

Andy rushed up to them, a completely clean wrench held in one hand and a large smile on his face. He could not handle touching the filthy thing, so he had used an entire packet of disinfectant wipes to clean it off!

The smile fell when he noticed that dear She-Shen and Drew-Drew seemed to be arguing. "Is everything fine right now?" They both nodded. "Don't worry dude, let's just focus on getting the record."

"Drew I highly doubt it's a record."

"Have a bit of faith Shen, the animators here might have had taste!"

The trio marched back to the main room. The projector was still on but they ignored this and focused on looking for the next item. Shen was checking nearby the table on the edge of the room when she noticed something round leaning against one of the table legs. She picked it up and groaned when she realized what it was.

"I guess you were right after all, Drew."

"It _is_ a record! I knew it! Oh, and it's the special edition Bendy theme song!" Drew eagerly reached his hands out to the record, but Shen shoved him back. "We need this to turn on the machine! Not listen to!" Drew pouted.

"Aw, fine Shen, but after I totally wanna listen to it!" Shen rolled her eyes. "Fine, let's just tell the others we found it and the wrench."

"I will send a message to the group chat!"

"Thanks Andy."

"Come on you guys, let's keep looking!"

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"Record and wrench found! All we need now is that book!"

"I can't wait to get the hell out of this place."

"Hopefully that should be soon, but we still need to focus on finding that book!" Lex hummed softly and looked around the hall. So far they had no luck in finding anything else, but she did not want to give up.

She passed by another large shelf, there had been a couple of these she had passed in the studio. Large with a couple drawers, and a small space at the bottom. Except this had something in that space.

Lex frowned and bent down. There certainly was something there. It was coated in ink and seemed to have been jammed underneath the shelf, as if someone was trying to hide it.

"Hey Naomi, I think I could use a bit of help here. I'm gonna lift this up and I need you to pull the thing out from under it." Naomi nodded and crouched down on the floor.

"Alright let's do this!" With a grunt the girl lifted the shelf up as much as she could. This was not a lot, she probably managed to lift the front end up by and inch and a half, but it was enough for Naomi to be able to slide the object out.

"I got it Lex, you can let it go!" Lex did just that and dropped the shelf back down, cracking the wooden floor a bit. "Alright, so what is that?"

Naomi scratched some of the dried ink of the front and looked at what it said. "The Illusions of Living? It looks like a book."

"Then that's just what we need. I'll text the others and let's make our way back to the pedestal room and get this shit over and done with."

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Everyone met up in the pedestal room and they each put the items on their respective stands. Gear, inkwell, wrench, record, and strange, ink coated book. When the last one was put on the stand a soft hum filled the room.

"It sounds like more machinery, so I guess we can try to turn the power on."

"Who wants to pull the lever?" Drew raised his hand. "Let me do it." Lex shrugged, more than happy to let someone else mess with, whatever was going on in the damn building.

Drew stepped up to the lever and rested his hand on it. He then did absolutely nothing. "Uh Drew, you okay there?"

"Yeah, you just gotta say it!"

"What?"

"You know, the thing! Say it!" Lex sighed, now understanding what Drew wanted. The girl swore he watched too much TV, and this was merely an example of that.

"I hate you so much for making me do this, but fine." Lex coughed, clearing her throat. "Pull the lever Kronk!" Drew grinned and yanked the lever down. Nothing happened.

"GOD DAMMIT, WHY?" She was _this_ close to pulling her hair out.

Drew sighed sadly and let go of the lever. Lex swore she heard him mumble "wrong lever." under his breath. She felt like screaming.

"Lex, I think you need to go push the button in the other room. The one about ink pressure." Oh yeah, she had forgotten about that.

"Wait, what button do you speak of?"

"It's in this one room Naomi and I found, I'll head there and press it so we can finally finish this." She did not feel the same eeriness that she had before, but something was keeping its eyes on them.

"Lex, take this!" Drew had taken the baseball bat out of his bag and thrown it to her. She caught it and inspected the makeshift weapon. It was made of metal and felt light. It was most likely hollow, but it would definitely do some damage.

"I'll be back soon!" Lex called out as she jogged back to the ink pressure room. Luckily it did not take too long since she remembered the way there and found herself in front of the button once again, except this time it was glowing.

"Looks like all it needed was a little power after all." She mumbled as she pressed the button.

The button lit up and the girl sighed in relief. "Thank goodness something works in this damn place. All we need now is to turn on that stupid machine and get the hell out of here."

Just as Lex was about to move, the projector turned on. She jumped back with a curse as the Bendy on the screen began to dance to the distorted music. "Oooooh no, I don't like this." She said, heart racing from the scare.

Whatever was going on in the studio was getting worse. They needed to get out of there as soon as possible.

She rushed past the projector, nearly knocking it off its perch. She sprinted down the halls, ignoring the eyes that watched her.

It was going to happen soon, she could feel it.

Clanks and rumbles echoed around her as the machinery that lived within the studio walls woke up. She shuddered but kept running, baseball bat still tightly clenched in one hand.

"Lex, are you okay?" That was Naomi, she rushed up to the girl, slightly out of breath.

"I-I'm fine, but there's something messed up going on here, we need to leave ASAP!" Naomi frowned. "Yeah, we agreed to do that after we got the machine on and checked out what it does."

"I don't know if we have time for that!" She could feel the eyes burning into her back. They wanted the machine to get turned on. She could feel their need, their _desire_.

It was game over if that happened.

She was paranoid, she knew that was what the others would say, but she could _feel_ it. It was almost as if she knew what would happen. Something would wake up the moment they turned the machine on, something _very bad!_

"Hey guys, I think we can turn the machine on now! The thing's lit up!" That was Drew.

"No, Drew you idiot! Don't pull that-" But it was too late. He had already pulled the lever.

The studio was plunged into the shadows. Naomi yelped and clung tightly to Lex, who wrapped her arms around her in return. It was happening, it almost felt as though the shadows themselves were alive.

More shouts were heard from the room and the rest of the group rushed out. Andy and Shen first, followed by Drew. "Damn, I thought that was supposed to turn the power on!"

"The power was already on, but that was the power for the ink machine." Shen mumbled, standing unusually close to Drew and Andy. "Shen you okay?"

"Yes, it's just, the _eyes_." Lex felt her eyebrows raise, she did not know Shen could feel the eyes too. "You feel them too?"

"Yes, so you know-" "About how damn creepy and oppressive it feels in here? Yeah." It was almost as though the shadows were about to swallow them in their eternal darkness. She could feel them creeping in on her group. Lex did not like this one damn bit.

"We should get to the ink machine and see what it does." Andy said. Good on him for remembering what they had stuck around to do.

What they possibly might die for, a part of Lex whispered.

The group quickly made their way to the ink machine. The majority of the studio seemed to have lost power after the machine was turned on so everything was covered in a blanket of shadows. The rumbling of the ink moving through the pipes only added to the unsettling atmosphere, and the sounds of machinery were far louder than they had ever been.

Lex stayed in front, still keeping a tight grip on her baseball bat. She trusted nothing about this damn situation! Naomi stayed close, almost leaning against the older girl. Shen and Andy stayed in the middle with Shen keeping a watchful eye on their surroundings. Drew took up the rear, crowbar held in his hand.

Finally they made it to the room that had the ink machine, but something had changed.

"WHO THE FUCK BOARDED THE ROOM UP?!" Lex shrieked as she saw what had happened to the entrance to the room. Wooden boards, exact replicas of the ones that were on the studio door, now covered the entrance to the room with the ink machine.

She could faintly see the ink machine between. It appeared to be pumping out a literal shit ton of ink. In fact the ink was already leaking out of the room and into the hallway.

"Whoa, the hell's going on?"

"What's that thing doing?"

"It appears as though the machine makes ink, but for what purpose..."

"I don't like any of this!"

"Calm down! Now we know the thing makes ink, so we can get the hell out of here!" Lex said. She had turned around to face her friends, so she was facing away from the machine.

If only she was looking the other way.

No one noticed the ink on the floor beginning to bubble. The faint splashes covered by the group's noise as they spoke back and forth, torn between fleeing the damned studio and turning the machine off.

They did notice when a massive, inky form surged up from the mess on the floor. Lex spun around, bat held in one hand, but froze at the sight before her.

The figure, entirely made out of ink, was massive! It was taller than Drew, making it at least six feet tall! Sharp, pointed horns sat atop the creature's head, nearly touching the ceiling, and a grinning white face stared at them, or it would have if the eyes were visible.

Half of the creature's face was covered in ink. In fact its entire form seemed to be both melting and maintaining its shape, like a dripping candle. A dripping candle that looked like it just crawled up from the pits of hell.

Lex heard the others behind her either gasping or shouting, be she ignored that in favour of watching the, _thing_ in front of her.

The creature lifted its arms, almost as if it was seeing them for the first time. Lex took note of the while gloves that covered the creatures hands, or claws. The tips were pointed and looked sharp enough to slice through flesh and bone. The design very familiar and almost reminded her of the ones worn by...

She stopped the thought in its track because, it _could not be true!_ _THERE IS NO WAY IN HELL IT COULD BE TRUE!_

However the sight of the small, white bow tie sitting right over where its neck would be made her completely freeze. It looked exactly like the one Andy was wearing, except this one was dripping a bit, staining the floor with its ink.

_No... no way..._

Clearly the others also had similar thoughts. She could hear the murmurs behind her, but no one said anything.

Or no one did until Andy, sweet Andy stood beside her. He took off his glasses, cleaned them, and then put them back on. His eyes must be tricking him, there was no way...

But when put his glasses back on, and looked back up at the creature, at the bow tie that was an exact replica of his own, _he knew_.

"B..." He wheezed, the air stuck in his chest. He could not _say_ it! "Ben..."

The creature cocked its head as the boy tried to speak, horns twitching a bit. It was clearly interested in what the boy had to say. No one was sure whether this was good or bad for their group.

Finally, _finally_ the choking sensation lifted, and Andy was able to say it.

"B-Bendy..."

The thing that could not be Bendy but _was_ , grinned at them, sharp teeth that he was _not supposed to have_ bared in their direction. Lex pulled Andy back, careful to make sure she only grabbed his jacket.

"Andy, move."

"B-but dear Lexie, it is only Bendy..." His voice trailed off as he got a better look at the creature. It certainly looked like Bendy, but there was an air of menace around it that made his skin crawl.

Even without eyes, its gaze seemed to stare into his very soul, and promised nothing but pain and death.

The grin grew, sharp fangs poking out even more. Lex frowned and threw Andy back to Shen, ignoring his yelp. She lifted her baseball bat in the creature's direction, hoping she made her point clear.

If that thing got any closer to them, it would be in for a world of hurt.

The creature paused, arms dropping to its sides. For a moment the grin vanished, as if insulted by the unsaid threat. Then, the grin appeared full force and Lex felt the goosebumps on her arms rise.

Without warning the creature let out an ear shattering shriek and lunged towards the group, teeth bared and ready to kill the stupid humans who dared disturb it!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for the kudos and comments!


	3. The OH SHIT RUN AWAY

If there was one thing Alex was known for, it was her aggressiveness.

The students who tried to pick on her or push her around faced her wrath, and the results were horrific. Everyone knew this, but there was something else they knew about her, or a lesson all new students were taught.

Never, _ever_ sneak up on her.

This rule came into existence after the "Haunted House Incident", or otherwise known as the day Lex broke someone's face.

The story goes that an unfortunate tenth grader had decided to attempt to scare the girl after she had told the principle about some of his more, unsightly habits. Lex had never been one for tolerating people who threatened others, so the boy had suffered a week long suspension with extra assignments to "teach him a lesson".

That day he certainly was taught a lesson, one he would never forget.

So he had gone into the cheesy haunted house after them, ready to extract his revenge and scare the living daylights out of Lex.

He had snuck up behind her and unleashed a horrific, loud screech that rang through the small corridor they were in.

This shriek was then matched by the one he made when the girl spun around and ruthlessly punched his face, completely on instinct. She broke his nose and shattered most of the bones that made up his face.

He passed out from the pain and an ambulance was called. Luckily enough Lex was not in trouble for hitting the boy since some other students had heard his plans and reported him to the principle.

From that moment on, everyone knew that trying to sneak up on or frighten Lex was a _horrible_ idea.

So when Bend-no, when the _monster_ had lunged at them, and while everyone else had screamed, absolutely petrified by their fear, one thought raced through Lex's mind.

_Fight._

And she did just that.

With a roar that matched the monster's shriek, Lex lifted the baseball bat up and _swung_ with all her strength. The hit landed with a loud _squish_ on the monster's face, and it was thrown back. It broke the boards that covered the entrance of the ink machine room, sending shards of wooden planks flying, and landed on the ink soaked floor with something that almost sounded like a groan.

She had stunned it, but she had no idea how long it would stay down for.

She spun around, ink coated baseball bat still clutched in one hand, and shouted as loud as she could. "DON'T JUST STAND THERE, FUCKING RUN!"

Shen grabbed Andy's sleeve and yanked him along, Drew quickly following with Naomi, and Lex taking up the rear. The various pipes littering the halls had burst, gushing ink throughout the studio. They rushed through the ink coated halls, trying to find the exit.

"Does anyone remember where the exit is?!" Drew shouted, dodging a large ink puddle.

"I remember, it shouldn't be much farther now!" Shen called out, still tugging Andy along with her.

Lex felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up and looked backwards. She let out another shout and ran even faster. "IT'S FOLLOWING US!"

The ink at her feet began to ripple and a horrified thought entered Lex's mind. _What if it can control the ink..._

She felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise once again. She then grabbed Naomi, pulled her against the wall, and shouted as loud as she could. "HIT THE WALLS!" Drew grabbed Shen and Andy and pulled them against the wall just in time to miss the giant spikes of ink that shot up from the floor.

Lex cursed as one of them nearly hit Naomi, and kept the younger girl back. She then heard something that sounded like laughter and found that the inky creature was almost upon them. "KEEP RUNNING AND WATCH OUT FOR THE INK!"

Everyone quickly moved and another swing from the baseball bat dealt with the creature. It crashed against a wall and sank into the ink, leaving faint ripples behind. "Dammit I don't know where it is!"

"LEX HURRY, WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE!"

With one last suspicious glance at the ink Lex quickly ran back to her friends. Together they ran towards the exit, or where it used to be. "What!? I-it was here! I r-remember it being here!" Shen yelled, not believing the sight in front of her eyes.

They should have entered the main room and from there the exit was just a couple steps away! But now they were in some hall she had never seen before that branched off into two other halls! How did she get turned around? She never got lost!

"We may have gotten turned around, but that is okay, we need to remain calm and focus." Shen was surprised that Andy was able to stay so calm during all of this, with his favourite childhood character coming to life and trying to kill them.

"Andy's right, we just need to-" The next thing Drew was about to say was quickly cut off as another geyser of ink shot up, nearly slicing into his face. The boy cursed and dodged it. "Fuck, what the hell!?"

Naomi yelped as more ink shot up from the floor, dividing the group. "Oh no!" Lex looked around. Shen, Andy, and Drew were on one side of the mess while she and Naomi were on the other.

"It looks like we need to split up! If one of us finds the exit we text or call the others, got it?!" She yelled, hoping her friends could hear her above the splashing of the ink. "Got it Lex, don't get killed!" Drew yelled out as his group ran down the hall closest to them.

"Come on Naomi, we gotta move!" More laughter could be heard coming from the hall, and Lex had no doubt in her mind that it was coming from the monster. She grabbed Naomi's sleeve and tugged her along.

Together they ran down the hall and into the darkness. Most of the lights had shut off when the ink machine had turned on, so the duo could hardly see a thing. They slipped and slid on the slick surface of the floor.

"Fucking dammit, stupid ink!"

"Lex, I think I see somewhere we can hide up ahead." Naomi ran ahead and tugged on Lex's arm. She had always had better eyesight. They ducked behind a bunch of crates they had never seen before. Naomi went in first, and Lex quickly followed behind her.

They sat in the ink, the cold fluid clutching their legs. Naomi shuddered and leaned against Lex for support. Lex swore she could feel Naomi's heartbeat against her arm. "We're gonna be fine." She murmured, trying to comfort Naomi.

"No we're not!" She cried out as softly as she could. Naomi felt the tears running down her face. She hated crying, and that only made her more upset.

"We should have listened to you!" She sobbed, clutching Lex's arm. "We should have left when we could have, but now..." She trailed off, not wanting to even think about what might happen to them.

"It's alright, we're gonna get out of this Naomi."

"How are you so calm right now? Aren't you scared?" Lex was terrified. Her breathing was shaky and her heart was pounding, but she knew she had to stay calm for Naomi. The moment she freaked out would be the moment they died.

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine. Right now we need to focus on finding that exit." Hopefully the other group was having better luck at finding a way out.

"B-but!" A hand appeared over her mouth. It was Lex's hand, but it still caused her to let out a surprised squeak. "Shhhh, I hear something."

_Splish, splish, splish..._

It sounded somewhat like footsteps, but Lex knew the other group had run off in the opposite direction, so only one thing could be making that noise.

_Splish, splish, splish..._

She did her best to keep Naomi hidden behind her. She would not let her die tonight! Lex gripped the baseball bat, ready to fight if the creature found out where they were.

_Splish, splish, splish..._

It was close, she could feel how tense the atmosphere was. Naomi huddled up against Lex's back, one hand tightly clutching her arm. She knew she was most likely leaving marks in her friend's arm, but at that moment she was too scared to care.

The noises stopped, but Lex knew the creature was still there. It was looking for them, hunting them.

"Well, well, well, ya think ya so clever, tryin' ta hide from me."

The sudden voice almost made Lex jump, but she held still and grit her teeth together. She would not make a noise, _she would not make a noise!_

Naomi simply buried herself against Lex's back, using it as a way to keep herself calm. Lex smelt like sweat, but Naomi ignored that and focused on keeping herself calm. Steady breathing, in and out, in and out. Do not think of anything else, stay calm.

The voice actually sounded incredibly familiar, which made sense if that monster was supposed to be Bendy. The manner of speaking was about the exact same, hell the accent was perfect, but the tone and the voice itself were, _wrong_.

The voice sounded like it was mocking them, the tone was deep and seemed to vibrate through the air. It was inhumane, and definitely not the voice from the cartoon. She did not think any human could replicate the noises it was making.

_Splish, splish..._

The creature was moving again. It sounded like it was getting closer to the crates. Lex ducked her head down and prayed to whatever deity that was listening. _Please, please don't let it find us!_

"Come on out, I promise I won't hit ya with a bat~" Ben-the _creature_ said. Lex winced as it mentioned the baseball bat, hoping that was not the reason why it was here right now. _I might have just killed myself and Naomi all because I smacked that thing in the face with a baseball bat._

"Golly, ya sure were eager to play with me before, are ya too scared now?" The creature taunted, as if making her seem like a coward would cause her to jump out of hiding. Lex was perfectly happy being a coward hiding behind the crates.

_Ugh, that things sound so creepy, the way it's talking and its voice do not go together!_

_Splish, splish, splish..._

The noises sounded fainter now, like the creature was getting further away. Lex lifted her head above the crates, trying to see where it went.

It was standing in the hall they had first run down still looking for them, but it was far enough away that Lex was not too concerned about it hearing her or Naomi. "Is he gone?" Naomi asked.

"Yeah, it looks like it, but I don't think we can move just yet." Naomi peeked over the crates with her, catching sight of the creature. "Oh, that's not good."

"No shit. I think we're stuck here till that thing moves." Naomi sighed sadly and huddled closer to Lex. Lex gently wrapped and arm around her and together they waited for a chance to move.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Shen sprinted ahead of her group, looking for the damn exit. It was almost as if the entire structure of the studio had been rearranged. New hallways and dead ends. It was infuriating.

Drew was carrying Andy on his back, the poor boy had not been able to take the stress of everything going on and had passed out not long after they had gotten separated from Lex and Naomi. In a way this made trying to find the exit a bit easier for the group since Andy was a very slow runner.

"Hey Shen, do you think we're close?" Drew asked, his hair dancing around his face. His man bun had long since come undone, leaving his hair free.

"I'm not sure, but I think we might be getting closer to that first room." There was not too much ink here, so hopefully that meant they were getting closer to the exit.

And further away from Bendy.

Drew spotted something that looked like a boarded up hallway to his left. Between the boards he could see something that looked like...

"SHEN THERE! BEHIND THOSE BOARDS IS THE ROOM!" The girl wasted no time. She spun around and viciously kicked at the boards, breaking them with one hit. Drew cheered the girl on.

"Go Shen, you got this!"

Eventually the path was cleared with a few more well placed kicks and Shen rushed ahead, Drew not far behind her. The main room looked completely normal, not a drop of ink anywhere. "Whoo, all we need to do is text Naomi or Lex and we're home free!"

Shen wanted to believe that, but something still did not feel right. She soon realized what this was when she went to check out the exit.

Various large spikes of ink blocked their way, and the door had been blocked once again, this time by tendrils of ink. Shattered pieces of wood lay on the floor from where the spikes of ink had emerged, like they had come from the basement of the building. It seemed as though the creature did not want them to be leaving anytime soon.

"You have got to be shitting me!"

"Copying Lex now, are we?"

"I feel like cursing is the best way to describe this mess we're in."

Andy groaned from where he was on Drew's back, and Drew quickly helped him down. "Andy, you alright man?"

Andy groaned again and held one hand up to his aching head. "I-I am fine, just a little sore. What happened?"

Drew and Shen shared a look. Hopefully telling him would not make him pass out again. "Uh, you passed out after Bendy tried to kill us in the hallway, and we've been trying to find the exit since then." Shen said, waiting for his reaction.

He did not pass out, which was good, but he paled drastically, making his freckles stick out. "B-Bendy?" He squeaked. "I-I was not dreaming then?" Drew shook his head.

"Nah dude, but the good news is we found the exit, kind of!"

"What do you mean 'kind of'?" Shen sighed and cut in. "It looks like Bendy knew we'd try to get to the exit, so he blocked it off. It's gonna take a while to get through all that, never mind getting the ink off the door."

"Hey, at least we still got the crowbar." Drew said as he waived said crowbar around.

"What about dear Naomi-mi and Lexie? Are they alright?"

"We don't know, they haven't messaged us or anything." Shen turned to Drew. "Actually, Drew how about you call Lex and tell her about the current situation." Drew nodded and pulled the phone out of his pocket.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Lex cursed softly as her phone began to ring. She managed to answer it before the full ringtone went off and had to stop herself from shouting at Drew. "You idiot, that thing is near us!" She hissed into the phone.

"Sorry Lex, but I figured it was best to call you and tell you about the, uh, situation."

"What situation? Is there another one of these things running around?!"

"No, it' just, uh, Bendy managed to block off the exit."

"... You have _got_ to be _kidding me_."

"Nope, and it's gonna take us a bit to break through it."

This was a complete and utter disaster. They were doomed, unless...

Oh, she had a plan. A plan no one would ever want to agree with, but a plan nonetheless and if everything went according to that plan then there was a high chance they would all make it out of there alive. Hopefully.

"Hey Drew, do you think extra help would clear the exit faster?"

"Of course it would, why?" He sounded confused, she knew he would never agree with what she would say next. "I'm gonna send Naomi over to you guys to help with the exit."

"Wait! What about you Lex!?" She sighed softly, Naomi would tell them when she met up with them. There was no point in going through that angst right now. There would be enough of that when she told Naomi of her plan.

"Don't worry about me Drew, just focus on clearing that exit."

"But-" She hung up and put the phone back in her pocket. It was now or never.

"What did Drew have to say?" _Oh, Naomi..._

"That inky bastard blocked the exit, and it's gonna take a bit to clear it." She sighed, ready for the hard part. "I'm gonna cause a distraction and you're gonna head over to help-" "No! I'm not leaving you here alone!" Naomi nearly shouted, frustrated tears beginning to leak out of her eyes once again.

How dare Lex even think about trying to fight Bendy on her own! She could die!

"Naomi, we don't have a choice." Lex felt her heart breaking as she stared at the crying girl in front of her.

"No! We can go there t-together, and, an-" "And lead that monster straight to the others so we _all_ die." Lex interrupted, speaking as softly as she dared. This needed to be done, no matter how bad the outcome might be.

Lex would gladly risk her life just so her friends could survive, it was just the kind of person she was.

"Naomi I _need_ to do this so you guys have a chance at getting that door open, if I don't then we're _all_ screwed." Naomi sobbed once more, leaning against her chest. She felt her heart break a bit more at the noise. Lex knew if she was not wearing her windbreaker she would be able to feel the tears against her skin.

"Besides," She said, lifting Naomi's face so their eyes could meet. She had never seen such a beautiful set of brown eyes, even if they were filled with tears. "I don't plan on fighting that thing any longer than I have to, so the moment I know the exit's clear, I'm booking it."

"You better." The younger girl sniffled, wiping her face with her arm. She hoped Shen would not be too angry with her for getting tears on her sweater, and ink, there was so much ink. "If you don't I'm gonna delete your Sunshine save file that you completed!"

"My one hundred percent one, with all the blue coins?"

"Of course!" Lex could not stop the soft smile that took over her face. She held Naomi in her arms, the unspoken " _will this be the last time I ever see you?_ "floating in the air between them.

Naomi still smelled like peaches.

"You know peaches are my favourite fruit." Lex murmured, gently pressing her face into Naomi's beanie, ignoring the tears that now ran down her face. She had no idea why she had mentioned it, it just felt right to say. Naomi hummed softly in her arms, snuggling a bit closer to Lex. "I know." They stayed like that for a few more moments, comforting the other, before Lex reluctantly let the girl go.

"You stay here until that thing runs past, then you book it to the others. Call Drew and have him tell you where to go once the monster's out of sight."

"Got it. I'll make sure we don't take too long clearing the exit."

"Good." Lex smiled at the girl, ignoring the tears that were still falling from her eyes. Naomi would be fine, and it would be up to her to make sure she stayed alive. Normally she would have hated having to rely on others, but these people were her friends for a reason. She trusted them with her life. She sniffled and wiped the tears off of her face."I'm counting on you, Naomi. You can do it."

Lex looked over the crates again. The monster was further down the hall so it hopefully would not see her stand up from behind the crates and give away Naomi's position. "Stay safe." Naomi whispered. Lex smiled down at her and waved. "I'll see you later, Naomi."

Naomi held onto this final image of Lex. Her standing tall, baseball bat clenched in one hand. Tangled brown hair falling around her face, green eyes narrowed and focused on what she was about to do, blotches of ink on her clothes and face, and that casual wave. Back of the hand facing Naomi, fingers pointed up to the ceiling. Leave it to Lex to seem so relaxed before she risked her life. She would never forget this image of her friend.

Especially if this were to be the last time she ever saw Lex.

Lex stood up and walked as silently as she could into the hall, trying not to splash the ink that had clustered around her shoes. _Damn this ink stains everything it touches. I hope it comes out easy after this mess._

_At least my shoes are water proof. Probably the only good thing about this damn situation._

Think about the future instead of worrying about what she was about to do. The thing that would arguably be the most stupid decision in her life. Think about seeing Naomi again, about beating Drew in Smash or Mario Kart, helping Shen with her kinesiology homework, and chatting with Andy about computer engineering and music theory. She sighed, she could do this.

_Alright, let's go!_

She stood in the middle of the hall, baseball bat clenched in one hand and a sharp look in her eyes. Breathe in, breathe out, and let it go. Don't be scared, you can do this.

"HEY YOU STINKING PILE OF SHIT!" The monster spun around, facing the determined teen. She lifted the baseball bat and pointed it directly at the creature. Lex hoped she looked as badass as she felt at that moment. "YOU WANT A PIECE OF ME?" The cre-no, _Bendy_ grinned at her, flashing those dagger like teeth once again.

She was not going to die here.

"Ya finally came out to play, huh? Looks like I'll have some fun today after all." He seemed to purr the words, the vibrations traveling through the air and making Lex's hair stand on end. He was a monster that wanted to kill them, a cartoon no longer.

She was not going to die here.

"But, ya coulda left the bat behind, no need for that here." She snorted, time to piss of the beast. "What, you scared I'm gonna smash your ugly ass face in again?" Bendy's grin seemed to get sharper at the threat and insult. He was getting angry.

Good, hopefully he would make more mistakes when he was angry.

"I'm gonna enjoy rippin' ya ta shreds!" Bendy snarled, and lunged at the girl. Lex spun around and ran into the hallway behind her, shouting the entire time. "YOU GOTTA MOVE FASTER THAN THAT IF YOU WANNA CATCH ME, BITCH!"

She knew cursing did not help her situation in the slightest, but it helped to relive the fear coursing through her system. She could be afraid, but she could not let the fear paralyze her.

She dodged the various tendrils of ink that were thrown her way thanks to the instincts her mother had ingrained in her. Whenever the hairs on the back of her neck rose, she dodged the hits, or most of them. The occasional strand of ink would leave a small cut on her arm or leg, but she ignored it and kept running.

She ran for Shen, for Drew, for Andy, and for Naomi. She ran for their safety and for their freedom from this damned studio.

Lex did not look back to see Naomi stand up from behind the crates. She did not see the girl watch as she disappeared around the corner, Bendy not far behind. Nor did she hear the whispered plea of "Please, come back to me."

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

She ran, she ran like she never had before. Then again Naomi had never considered herself to be too athletic, but at that moment she felt like an Olympic athlete. She sprinted through the halls, moving faster than she ever thought she could.

But it was not fast enough.

_Gotta be faster, have to help others, have to not let Lex die!_

Every second counted, and Naomi could feel the time slipping through her fingers like grains of sand. Every second she spent getting to the exit was another second spent with Lex's life in danger.

_Faster, need to move faster!_

She had forgotten to call Drew and ask for directions, but it was almost as if her body already knew where to go. Left, left, right, left, straight, Drew!

Drew yelped as Naomi slammed into him, knocking him over. "Agh, Naomi you alright!?" He grunted as he caught the younger girl. Naomi did not respond, she panted, trying to catch her breath.

"I-I', fine." She stuttered out. Shen jogged over to check on duo on the floor. Andy was leaning up against the wall closest to the exit, he did not move. "Naomi, what happened? Where's Lex?" _Lex..._

_Lex facing her, green eyes almost seeming to glow in the darkened hall. "I'm counting on you."_

"L-Lex is distracting Bendy!" Naomi gasped out, feeling tears fall from her eyes once again.

"W-what? Are you joking?"

"Is she insane?"

Naomi gasped again, still struggling to breathe normally. Even though there was only a little bit of ink in this room, she felt like she was suffocating in it. Like it was reaching up to drown her. "S-she's doing it so we have more time to get the door open! The moment it's open she's gonna make a break for it."

Those warm green eyes that always seemed so cold around people she did not know. The quirk of her lips whenever she went to smile. Her loud laughter that never failed to brighten up Naomi's day.

" _I'm counting on you."_

"We have to get that door open!" Naomi stood up and looked for something, anything that could help clear a path!

At this point Andy, who everyone had forgotten about during Naomi's arrival, stood up. His face stared down at the floor, eyes blank. "Dear Lexie is in danger?"

The trio jumped, startled by Andy's question. "A-Andy, you okay dude?" Drew asked. Andy ignored the question. "Please, is dear Lexie in danger?" Naomi decided to jump in.

"Yeah, she's distracting Bendy so we can clear the exit, so we need to do that now!" She did not understand why everyone was just standing around doing nothing. Did they not know Lex's life was in danger!?

"She could be dying while we just sit here, we need to move!"

Andy collapsed to the floor, landing on his knees. His dull blue eyes seemed to stare at nothing. "She is in danger." He mumbled to himself. "And I am doing nothing to help."

He felt frozen, as if his body could not move. The situation was too overwhelming, far too much for him to handle. He wanted to scream, scream and scream the situation away, but dear Lexie was in danger. Her life at risk. Yet he _could not move_! The voices of the others sounded muffled in his ears.

" _She could be dying while we just sit here,"_ Naomi's voice echoed within his mind, over and over. She could be dying, she could be dead. One of the few people who had ever cared about him, the real him, could be dead.

One of the few people who saw past how "special" he was. One of the few people who did not call him a "faggot" or "retard" or "autistic spaz". One of the few people who protected him from those who sought to harm him.

" _She could be dying while we just sit here,"_

She could be dead. It echoed within him. It tore at him, overwhelmed him. He could not take it!

Andy screamed. He clutched his head but did not press it against the _filthy_ floor. The tears began to pour from his eyes, trailing down his face and washing away the _dirty_ dust and ink that had gathered there. He vaguely heard dear She-Shen speaking to him, but he could not process it.

Dear Lexie dead, lying on the ground as Bendy laughed over her bleeding, broken corpse.

_He would not let that happen! He refused to let her down! Even if it caused him harm, he would do whatever it took to help save her!_

He screamed once again and jumped up, almost knocking over Shen. He ran to Drew, snatched the crowbar out of his hands, and faced the ink that stood in their way. "I will not let my inactivity lead to the death of one of those I hold dear." Andy snarled, icy eyes flashing.

He lifted the crowbar above his head and brought it down, smashing the closest ink spike. It shattered under the blow. "I WILL NOT ALLOW THAT TO OCCUR, NO MATTER WHAT!" He hated yelling, he hated loud noises. His ears always stung, but he had gotten used to it after dealing with dear Lexie and Drew-Drew, especially during their gaming nights.

His friends would not yell out their rage like they normally did? He would do it for them. He would channel their anger, their fury, and use that to save them.

" _She could be dying while we just sit here,"_

So he ignored the ink that landed on his face, the _filthfilthfilth_ , and instead focused on his rage. He struck again, more _filthfilthfilth_ that went ignored. He was still crying. He felt like he was choking on the _filthy_ ink particles that danced through the air.

But he never stopped.

"Damn Andy, I did _not_ know he could be like that." Shen muttered, still in shock over the development in her oldest friend. Andy was not one to get angry, he was not one to be loud, but here he was.

Being loud, getting dirty, and breaking things.

Naomi rushed off somewhere in the room, and Shen then heard the sound of a chair being broken. Naomi ran back up to here and Drew, broken chair legs held in her arms. "We need to help too!"

Drew smirked, picked the makeshift weapon up, and joined Andy. Shen quickly grabbed hers, walked deeper into the mess of spikes, and started breaking apart those that were closer to the door.

Naomi stared down at the chair leg clutched in her hands. She walked over to the blockade that was already almost halfway destroyed.

" _I'm counting on you." Lex's warm smile and the light that shone in her eyes. The casual wave as she went off to fight the creature that might end her life._

She lifted the chair leg high above her head and brought it down!

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

_Soft humming filled the room as a ten year old Naomi focused on her sketch. She had gotten Lex to pose for her, but it was proving to be difficult. "Lex, stop eating and hold still!"_

_Said girl paused in the middle of picking up another Fuzzy Peach from the bag she had brought with her. "Hey, you said I could snack on them!"_

" _After I was finished the basic sketch!" She was working on drawing people and so far it was a pain. Getting the proportions right seemed to take forever, especially since Lex kept moving. She had the basic outline of her face done, but she just could not get her eyes right..._

" _Lex, what did I just say?!" Lex swallowed her treat and grinned at Naomi. "Well, I didn't eat anymore, just the one I already had!" Naomi snorted and returned her focus to the sketch._

_Dammit, her eyes were still a bit too far apart, and the shape was all wrong! She erased the mistake and looked back up at Lex just in time to watch her take another candy from her bag. "Lex!"_

" _I can't help it!" She whined. "Fuzzy Peaches are the best!" The girl looked down at the candy in her hand. "They're my favourite fruit."_

_Naomi snorted. "They're not fruit silly, that's candy."_

" _I know that!" Lex shot back. "Peaches are my favourite fruit. They're so sweet and juicy, and they smell amazing!" Naomi giggled at the passion in Lex's voice. "It sounds like you like them a lot."_

" _Yup!"_

" _So you're gonna stop eating them so I can keep sketching, right?"_

" _Nope!"_

_Naomi sighed. "You're a butt face, Lex!"_

_The girl roared with laughed, recognizing Naomi's signature insult. Her eyes shined with mirth, and a massive grin appeared on her face. She looked so, alive. Naomi grinned as an idea popped into her mind._

_Click!_

_Lex paused in her laughter and stared at Naomi and the digital camera held in her hands, it was the one Naomi had gotten for her tenth birthday. "Heeeeey, I told you I don't like people taking pictures of me." Lex pouted, making Naomi grin. She had forgotten how expressive Lex could be in the presence of people she trusted._

" _Oh hush, since you don't want to hold still for me, I'll just use this picture instead!" The picture itself was very good, it seemed so real and full of life..._

_Naomi glanced down at her sketch. Perhaps it was not that the drawing itself was bad, but that the sketch lacked the life that the picture did._

" _Earth to Naomi, are you there?" A finger poked the girl right in the middle of her forehead. Naomi yelped. "Lex, stop it!" The older girl laughed again. Naomi smiled softly, yes, maybe all her drawings had been missing was this kind of life, this energy._

_She put down the camera on top of the sketchpad._

_While shopping with her mother a week after she and Lex had met up Naomi noticed something while checking which shampoos were on sale. There on the bottom row was a small, bright pink and orange bottle of shampoo. Naomi picked it up and read the label._

" _Super Peach Explosion?" The name was weird. She sniffed the bottle to find out what it smelled like._

_It smelled like peaches._

_Naomi grinned and ran back to her mother, waving the bottle in the air and talking about how they had to buy it. She never told Lex about the shampoo, but the next time she saw her Naomi could not help but smile as Lex told her how nice her hair smelled._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for the comments and kudos!


	4. The Escape

" _Drew I'm gonna kick your ass!"_

" _You have to catch up to me first, Lex!" Lex grit her teeth and fired red shells at the enemies in front of her so she could catch up to Drew._

_They were playing Mario Kart 8, and Drew was in the lead. Lex was stuck in 5_ _th_ _since the enemies kept hitting her with items, but all she needed was one lucky item and she would be able to win!_

_Shen and Naomi were both talking about who they thought would win on the couch behind the gamers. Shen figured Drew was in the lead so he would definitely get the win, especially since they were on the last lap, but Naomi had a feeling Lex's luck would kick in soon..._

_Andy was sitting on the floor beside the couch. He was not paying too much attention to the game as his thoughts were focused elsewhere._

_Lex smirked when she faintly heard the sound of a blue shell. Drew was too far ahead, so he would not be able to dodge that! Drew started cursing, he was so close to the end!_

_Lex's Mii ran into the last item block, and to her surprise she got a star. Her eyes flicked down to the item screen, she always used the gamepad, and noticed a character holding a lightning bolt._

_This was gonna be so good!_

_She quickly activated her star just in time to dodge the lightning bolt. Drew cursed again as the bolt hit his Mii, shrinking it and making it spin out._

" _Drew I'm gonna win."_

" _You still gotta catch up to me!" But she was close, and quickly closing in! It was at this moment that Drew realized he had forgotten the blue shell, which was circling around him. "YOU HAVE GOT TO BE JOKING!"_

_The blue shell closed in and Drew's Mii spun out, still shrunken from the lightning bolt. Lex cackled as her Mii drove through the blast, still protected by the star. "Yes, get rekt Drew!"_

" _LEX! NOOOOOOOO!"_

_Lex's Mii gleefully crossed the finish line, making the girl cheer. "Yessssss, I won!" Drew groaned and dropped his controller into the plush carpet. "Damn Lex, your luck really is something!" Lex merely snickered in response, still happy from her latest victory._

" _So Drew, you want a rematch?" The boy grinned and picked the controller back up, eager to have a chance at revenge. Before Lex could even start up their next tournament, Andy interrupted them._

" _Ah, everyone, I have something I wish to speak of to you." Lex and Drew put their controllers down and spun around to face the younger boy while Naomi and Shen watched from the couch. Andy coughed, possibly to clear his throat or because he was nervous before continuing._

" _I have a new plan I wish to discuss. It is an absolute genius plan that I am surprised I did not come up with sooner!" Gone was the concerned look on his face, he now appeared to be excited for something._

_Lex rested her chin on her fist, body hunched over. She was curious as to what this "absolute genius" plan was._

" _Well, I am sure you all remember the old animation studio..."_

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

_Splash! Splash! Splash!_

"Ah, shit!" Lex cursed, dodging another tendril of ink that tried to take her head off. She threw herself against the wall, ignoring the spike of pain in her shoulder. The tendril missed but left a thin gash against her cheek.

One of many wounds she had gained from being chased that night, all minor but stinging like mad.

"Aw, did I miss again?" There was Bendy, not too far behind her and quickly catching up. Lex grunted, lifted herself away from the wall, and kept running. She had stopped cursing, for the most part, while fleeing the demon because of something she had learned.

Bendy was almost completely blind.

She had started running out of breath so she had stopped insulting the monster and the next couple times he tried to attack her most of the attacks missed. She had thought this was originally because the monster was also beginning to get tired, she had been running for close to five minutes at that point, but then he began taunting her.

He was trying to provoke her in order to find out where she was. He clearly knew her general location, but it was not precise enough to be able to hit her. So for once in her life she had shut up and refused to insult the creature, much to his ever growing frustration, and continued to dodge more and more of the attacks.

But she was getting very, _very_ tired. Her chest heaved with each breath and her lungs felt like they were on fire, never mind the constant burn in her legs.

With her last bit of strength the girl shot forward, sprinting down the hall and easily outpacing Bendy. She heard him roar and give chase but she quickly ducked down several different hallways in the studio that had become a maze and easily lost him.

She continued to run, ignoring the ink that splashed at her legs and leaked into her shoes. It was almost at ankle depth, and clearly the machine was still running.

_Dammit, I need to hide! I can't keep running!_

There was a door coming up on her left! She ran up to it and tried to push the door open. Nothing. She rammed her shoulder into the door to try and force it to open. Once again the door refused to budge.

"DAMMIT!"

She heard whistling coming from the hall she had just been it. It reminded her of the cartoon's theme song, of course Bendy was using that to taunt her. He likely knew where she was because of her outburst, so her only option was to keep running.

Lex grunted and ran down the hall and made a left, nearly falling over in the ink. She hissed slightly under her breath as she landed on her knees and quickly stood back up. She was about to keep running when the sight in front of her made her freeze.

"Oh... oh no..."

It was a dead end. Lex was screwed, and the cheerful whistling was only getting louder.

She cursed again and jogged into the dead end. There were several crates and piles of rubble here, this was one of the more worn down sections of the studio, but there was nothing to hide behind. Nothing she could use to help save her life.

_I'm not going down here!_

Lex spun around and faced the entrance to the dead end, she would not die here, she would fight to the very end! She lifted the bat up and held it in front of her, both hands gripping the makeshift weapon with what felt like enough strength to dent the metal.

Her breathing was shaky, her legs were quaking, but her eyes stayed focused on the shadow cast on the wall in front of her in the dim lighting. The whistling slowed to a stop as Bendy walked around the corner.

That same, stupid grin appeared on his face as he took in her trapped form. He knew she was screwed, and that would make this all the more _fun_!

Now that she was facing Bendy, Lex could see how the creature walked, or "walked". While his entire body was one, dripping mess his legs would slide forward, as if they were taking a step. Each step barely moved the ink around his legs, only causing a few faint ripples to appear.

Bendy paused a few feet away from Lex, grin still plastered on his face. "It looks like this is yer _dead end_ brat." He laughed, either from the horrible pun or the horrified look on Lex's face. She hated puns, which was probably another reason why she preferred Boris over Bendy.

But it was strange to see something so, so _typical_ of Bendy coming from this creature. It really did seem like Bendy had come to life, but had become a twisted version of himself in the process.

"It looks like your humor is as rotten as you are, Bendy." Her comeback was bad and she knew it, but Lex had other things to worry about at that moment.

Like the demonic cartoon character trying to kill her.

While the comeback was not good it did wipe the smile from the creature's face. "Ya always gotta ruin the fun, huh? Well, ya won't be stopping me from having fun while I rip yer limbs off!" The grin was back full force, sharp teeth bared at the teen, making Lex take a step back in fear.

"Heh, and I guess apologizing for s-smashing your face it won't help me?" She stuttered out, ignoring the pounding of her heart. Maybe an apology would be enough to save her life...?

"Nope." She was so screwed.

"But I gotta know, why do somethin' as stupid as running _away_ from the exit?" Was, was that genuine curiosity she heard in his voice. Before Lex could even ask Bendy what he meant, he kept talking. He paced in front of her as he spoke, one hand resting on where his chin would be and the other supporting that arm, a typical thinking position.

"I know humans are stupid and all," Lex twitched at the insult. "But even a _stupid_ human should know runnin' away from the exit's a _bad_ thing," Bendy paused in his pacing and spun around to face the girl, near sightless eyes focusing on her face. "So why?"

Lex kept her mouth shut and did not respond. Hopefully if she kept quiet she would be able to continue to distract the monster and keep him from checking on the barricade he had set up near the entrance. _Hopefully it's almost clear, I don't think I'll be able to distract Bendy too much longer!_

Bendy let out a sigh at the lack of response. "Hm, well how about I make some guesses." Lex saw the faint quirking of his mouth, he was smiling, but she had no idea why. She simply kept her bat in front of her in case he decided to attack.

"Well, for one ya friends could've abandoned ya here." Lex felt her blood run cold. "Or maybe ya abandoned them and got turned around."

_That bastard..._

Lex grit her teeth, she did not need to respond to the inky bastard, all she had to do was keep calm and not flip out...

"Or maybe ya abandoned that smaller girl ta get away from me."

"You better shut the fuck up right now before I make you!" Lex shouted, fury running through her veins at the very accusation of her abandoning _any_ of her friends, especially Naomi!

Bendy grinned. "Ooh, I guess ya did then. Shame since the two of ya looked so close."

"As if I would ever abandon her, or any of my friends!" Lex snarled, more than loud enough for Bendy to hear. He was pissing her off and would soon face her wrath if he did not _shut up_!

The creature twitched and suddenly started laughing. Lex jumped at the sudden noise, but Bendy kept laughing. "Y-ya mean ta tell me, that yer tryin' to buy time for them ta escape or somethin'?" The creature wheezed out between bursts of laughter. Lex said nothing and only continued to stare at the monster, baseball bat still tightly held in front of her.

With a final, shuddering sigh Bendy stopped laughing and looked at the girl in front of him. "Is that what yer actually doin'?" Lex stayed silent, which was all the monster needed to know the answer.

He let out a sharp laugh. "HA! As if _humans_ know anything other than being lyin', backstabbin', murderers!"

"Shut up!" Lex barked. "If that were true I wouldn't be here!" Fear was still racing through her veins, but the increasing anger she felt pushed it down. "Besides, considering what I saw with Boris earlier, I don't think you can say shit!"

Bendy froze, face looking down into the ink at his feet.

Lex waited for the creature to do something, yell at her or try to attack, but he did nothing. She was a bit surprised he was so silent, especially since she had essentially insulted his friendship with Boris. _Then again who knows if they were really friends, Bendy might have been the one who killed him._

Lex heard her phone let out a quiet _ding_ and discretely checked it. It was from Naomi, and apparently the exit was clear! _Well I'm getting the hell out of here!_

She crept around the still not moving monster, careful to not make too much noise.

"You humans," Lex froze as Bendy lifted his face, which had far more ink running down it then it had before. His voice had changed, long gone was the voice of the cartoon character, it sounded like the voice of a literal demon. Something reminiscent of a snarl erupted from the creature as he lunged at her. "YOU HUMANS KNOW NOTHING!"

Lex screamed and swung the bat, nearly hitting Bendy. The creature jumped back, dodging the blow. Spikes ink shot up from the floor, all aimed at Lex. She ducked and dodged and weaved, avoiding all but one of the attacks.

A large spike shot towards her face, it was too fast to dodge so she lifted the bat up, hoping to deflect the attack.

The spike tore through the bat, splitting it in half but still somehow missing Lex. The girl froze, stunned that the weapon she had using to protect herself had broken so easily. "Wha-" She did not even get the chance to speak as Bendy quickly attacked.

Lex felt hands wrap themselves around her throat before hoisting her up in the air. She gasped and clawed at them, trying to see if the monster would let her go. "YOU HUMANS KNOW _NOTHING_ ABOUT WHAT I'VE BEEN THROUGH!" Bendy shrieked, making Lex's ears ring.

Lex tried to breathe, but the gloved hands around her neck were only getting tighter, and spots were beginning to dance in her eyes. "When I'm done with you, your friends will be next!" He hissed.

"N-no!" Lex choked out, air quickly running out.

She squirmed, trying to get the monster to let her go, but his grip only continued to tighten. Bendy lifted the girl a bit closer to his face, listening to her choking gasps as she tried to breathe. "So brat, any last words?" He wanted to hear her beg and plead for mercy, hear her fear!

The girl continued to choke and squirm in the monster's grip. Images flashed in her mind and her mother's voice floated in her ears.

" _Good, now we'll move on to some key weak points you might need to know."_

" _Aw, but mom I'm tired!"_

" _After this we'll take a break. Now the nose, neck, joints, ears, and eyes are some of the best weak points to aim for when you need to quickly get away from an attacker."_

" _What do you mean by eyes? Am I supposed to poke their eyes out?"_

" _Yup!"_

" _Ewwww, mom that's gross!"_

" _It might be, but who knows you might need to use it some day!"_

Ooooh, she had another plan. A plan that would hopefully work even if Bendy did not seem to have any eyes. Now if only he would just move her a _little closer to his face..._

As if hearing the mental plea, Bendy pulled the girl a little closer to him so they were almost eye to eye. "Well?" The creature snarled, shaking the girl a bit. He wanted to hear her terror before he killed her!

Lex felt her mouth lift into a smile as she stared down at Bendy. "Y-yeah, sorry Bendy." She croaked out, using the last bit of air in her. Confusion danced across the creature's face, breaking apart the monstrous scowl, and before he could even ask what she meant she put her plan into action.

Lex pointed her index and middle fingers, and slammed them right into where one of Bendy's eyes would have been!

The ink felt very cold, and the texture reminded Lex of jelly, somewhat solid but would give if anyone applied pressure to it. She shuddered at the strange feeling, but did not pull her fingers out. She kept pressing until her fingers went in all the way up to her hand.

Bendy on the other hand froze as soon as her fingers had stabbed into his eye. His face was the perfect expression of shock before the pain kicked in. Once it did the monster let out a screech and flung the girl behind him, towards the exit of the dead end.

Lex grunted as she heavily landed on the ink covered floor. There was a bit of the ink that made up Bendy's face still clinging to her fingers, so she hastily wiped them off on her jacket and did her best to ignore the nausea that filled her.

Bendy continued to scream in pain, both hands pressed tightly against where his eyes were. The ink around him rippled and shot into the air, trying to wound the teen but ultimately missing. "YOU #%&$, YOU &#$&$% &%#$, I'M GONNA #$&%$# KILL YA FOR THAT!"

Another constant theme from the show was cursing, and the censoring of that cursing. It was pretty common for Bendy to "curse" on the show, or make a series of loud noises that involved fog horns, bike bells, and all sorts of other noises random objects would make.

It was so popular that other cartoons would sometimes use it, like a certain Spongebob Squarepants episode...

So Lex ignored the shouting, fog horns, and what sounded like a car alarm, and stood up. Dried ink caked most of her clothing, but she ignored it and started running down the hall and away from the screaming demon.

She did not bother keeping quiet as she splashed through the halls, her main goal was to get away as quickly as possible, even if the ever rising pool of ink on the floor was slowing her down. _Wait... the machine is still on._

_WHAT'S GONNA HAPPEN IF THAT MACHINE STAYS ON?!_

She had two options here, one was to sprint to the exit and get the hell out of the dammed building, and the other was to take a detour, shut off the machine, then flee for her life. Lex reached the main hallway where everyone had split up, she had to make her choice, now! _Ugh... fuck it!_

Lex had no idea what leaving that machine on would do, but she had a feeling it would be bad.

So instead of running down the hall straight in front of her, Lex ran down the hall to her left in search of the ink machine. She did not exactly remember the path, and she had a feeling the halls might be even more messed up than they originally were, but she had to find the machine!

She continued running down the twisting maze that was the studio. Occasionally she would get lost or find more dead ends, but she kept running. Strangely enough she had not heard anything from Bendy.

Maybe getting stabbed in the eye made him think chasing her was a bad idea. Lex hoped he did not go after her friends to get revenge.

_Splishsplishplishsplish!_

Lex froze as the sound of Bendy's footsteps filled her ears. She looked around, there was nowhere to hide! She was so screwed! Again! She held in the scream she so desperately wanted to let out.

She would be doomed if Bendy found out exactly where she was.

Lex leaned against the wall closest to her and crouched down. Hopefully her dark, ink stained clothing would help her blend in to her surroundings. She kept her back pressed against the wall and tried to control her breathing.

In and out, in and out, she had to stay calm!

Lex nearly screamed as something smashed into the wall at the end of the hall, the same one she was leaning on. The vibrations nearly made her fall forward into the ink, but she did her best to stay still and not freak out.

_What the hell was that?!_

"Where are ya, brat?" Bendy hissed from down the hall. Lex felt her entire body freeze. _Oh hell, how did he find me?!_

_Splish, splish, splish_

She cringed as she heard the footsteps slowly getting closer. Actually, Bendy was moving far slower than she thought he would be, especially since it seemed like he already knew where she was.

He seemed to be panting too, it was weird...

Had she actually done lasting damage to the inky demon? Was that why he seemed so much weaker now?

The towering monster, which seemed like he was dripping more than he was before, appeared out of the darkness of the hall. Lex held back the yelp and shifted a little bit in the ink, making the substance ripple with her movement.

Damn, she had not heard him move, the sneaky bastard!

Lex watched as the horns on top of Bendy's head twitched. Was he... listening for her? _Oh hell this is so not good!_

He kept one hand on the wall, the one she was leaning against, as he slowly walked towards her, other hand stretched out in front of him and reaching around while his horns twitched. _Maybe I should think of them as ears at this point..._

It seemed as though she had managed to blind Bendy with her attack, but it was only a matter of time before he found her. The moment she made any noise would be when he knew where she was, and then she would die.

_Dammit, if only I had grabbed a piece of the bat! I could have thrown that to distract him or something!_

If only she had something else she could use, something else to throw aside from her phone since her mom _would_ kill her if she "broke" her phone again. Lex ran her hands over her jacket, trying to see if there was something else she could use. "Come on." She whispered under her breath. She felt something resting on her chest close to her heart and remembered something.

She _did_ have something else she could use. _The pin!_

Lex quickly unzipped her jacket as quietly as she could, and there it was, the pin that Naomi had given her. It seemed a bit ironic that her Bendy and Boris pin would save her from death at the hands of a demonic version of Bendy, but hopefully it would work.

_And I hope Naomi won't be too angry at me for this!_

She gently unpinned it and held the pin in her hands. It felt cool and heavy, it hopefully it would make a decent splash. _Come on luck, let me live!_

She pulled her arm back and threw the pin as hard as she could. It did not hit the ceiling like she thought it might, and instead landed far behind Bendy with a loud _splash_. The demon spun around, clearly having heard the noise, and ran down the hall, one hand still resting on the wall.

_Well, it looks like I should be good now!_

Lex stood up in the now silent hall. She took a step, the splash echoing off the walls around her. Nothing. She grinned and shot down the hall, running as silently as she could. She knew the pin would not distract the demon for too long so she had to move fast if she wanted to stop the machine.

Finally, _finally_ Lex found herself back at the ink machine, still spewing out ink like crazy. The substance was almost halfway up her calf here and stuck to her legs, greatly slowing her down.

"Damn, how do I turn this machine off?" Lex muttered as she looked around. Her eyes landed on the Bendy plushie Naomi had put on the stand and a grin appeared on her face.

"Well, if putting these things on the stands powered the machine, then taking them off should make it stop!" And with that Lex plucked the Bendy plushie off of its pedestal and watched what happened next.

The machine shut down with a _whirr_ and the ink flowing out of it slowed down until it came to a complete stop. "Sweet! Now all I need to do it get the hell out of here!" She put the plushie in the pocket of her jacket and zipped it up, just to make sure it did not fall out.

Lex jogged back down the hall as the ink drained away, most likely to the basement. She was happy the damn machine had finally stopped spewing ink, and now they could all leave! Everyone was safe! They were fine!

Lex was so caught up in her joy that it took her a moment to hear the distant screaming from an ink demon she had forgotten about. She cursed and began sprinting through the halls back towards where she hoped the exit was.

_Gotta keep running, I can do this!_

Lex began to run even faster when she noticed the shrieks coming from behind her, which meant Bendy was chasing her, so she would probably end up leading him straight to her friends.

_Well, I hope Drew still has that crowbar since it looks like we're gonna need it!_

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Naomi frowned as she looked down the still empty hall. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and checked her messages to see if Lex had sent her anything.

Still nothing.

Naomi sighed, feeling sadness flood her heart. She was so worried about Lex. What if she did not escape Bendy? What if she was hurt? The thoughts crowded Naomi's mind, driving the young girl insane.

Drew, who was also watching the hall with Naomi, gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure Lex will be fine, you'll see!" He knew the only thing that would make Naomi feel better would be Lex running down the hall towards them, perfectly fine, but he could still try.

Naomi sighed again, but gently patted the hand on her shoulder. "Thanks Drew, I'm just so worried about Lex. What if she-"

"Hey, Lex is super tough, she'll be fine." He knew Lex would be fine, the girl seemed damn near invincible and he knew an ink demon would not get her! Something like ink Satan had a better chance at getting Lex.

Drew often wondered if she was immortal, or if her near constant state of irritation was what kept her going.

"Oh, how's Andy and Shen doing?" Now it was Drew's turn to sigh as he answered the girl's question since he had just texted Shen the same thing a couple minutes ago. "Andy is still out of it and Shen's still keeping an eye on him."

Andy had passed out not long after the doorway had been cleared, so Shen had taken him outside to recover and get some fresh air. He was still unconscious, but Shen was taking care of him so Drew knew he would be fine.

Drew looked down the hall again. Still nothing. At this point he was considering just trying to find Lex on his own, even though he knew that was a bad idea. He grit his teeth and tapped one foot on the ground out of frustration. They were so damn helpless right now! _Come on Lex, get here already!_

As if some deity had answered his prayers, Drew heard footsteps coming right towards them. He shoved Naomi off to the exit. "You go first! I'll see who it is!" Naomi looked torn, but eventually nodded and ran towards the exit.

He faced the hall, crowbar held in one hand, ready to fight if he needed to. The footsteps were getting closer. He could faintly make out the figure running down the hall. It was...

It was Lex! The girl was covered in small cuts, the one on her face was far worse than the others, but other than that she was fine!

But she had a very scared look on her face...

"DREW YOU IDIOT! DON'T JUST STAND THERE, RUN!" He was a little surprised by her panicked shout, but then he caught sight of the towering figure behind her. _Oh shit!_

Bendy was back, and he was _pissed_!

Drew spun around and shot towards the entrance, Lex hot on his heels. Together they ran through the main room and sprinted towards the exit! He saw Naomi and Shen near the door, obviously having heard Lex's shout. Both of them were yelling for Drew and Lex to run faster, escape the cursed studio. They were so close!

Then Drew heard Lex let out a yelp. He spun around just in time to watch as one of Bendy's longs arms reached out to the girl and grab her leg. Lex was yanked down onto the floor and pulled back towards the demonic creature.

_No one's killing any of my friends on my watch!_

Drew chucked the crowbar out the door, grabbed Lex under her arms and began pulling her back towards the exit, or tried to. "D-damn, this thing s-sure is strong!" He grunted out as he fought against the demon's strength. It did not help that ink now coated the floor, making it very slippery and hard for him to actually move back.

Drew yelped as Bendy tugged Lex back, like some kind of twisted tug-of-war match that would end with Lex either living or dying. "I could use some help here!" He felt an arm wrap around his waist and start to pull him back towards the exit.

There was only one person who was strong enough to pull him back. "Shen! Thanks dude!" The girl did not bother to answer, too busy making sure her friends were not pulled deeper into the studio. She grit her teeth and pulled them back, one arm braced against the door frame to try to hold them in place.

So far it was not working.

Lex, who had been trying to make Bendy let her go by kicking at him with her other leg, let out a yelp as the creatures tugged at her leg yet again. Pain shot though her knee, bringing tears to her eyes. "If this keeps up my knee's gonna pop out of the damn socket!" She shouted, the pain making her voice crack a bit.

"W-we're trying Lex, he's just too strong!" Drew grunted as they were yanked further back into the studio.

Lex cursed under her breath and continued to lash out at the inky demon. Bendy only grinned at the futile attempts and pulled her let again, making the girl yelp. He seemed to be relishing in her pain. It was only a matter of time before the creature gave up on drawing pain out of her and either tore her leg off or ripped her out of Drew's grasp.

They were so screwed!

Lex closed her eyes, not wanting to see what happened next as Bendy prepared to yank her away from her friends!

"HEY BENDY, LEAVE LEX ALONE!" Her eyes popped back open at Naomi's shout, and even Bendy seemed to pause, looking up at the girl who stood in the doorway. Lex could not see what was going on, but everyone else could.

Naomi stood tall, back ramrod straight and a fierce fire present in her usually calm eyes. In her hands she held an item everyone had forgotten about, even Lex who had known Andy packed it.

The flare gun!

"Close your eyes!" Naomi yelled and then she fired the weapon right into Bendy's face. Luckily enough Shen, Drew, and Lex all had the sense to listen to her, but Bendy, who was a bit confused by the girl, did not listen.

The brilliant orange flare hit the monster in the middle of his face, making him scream and let go of Lex! Bendy clutched at his face as Drew pulled the wounded teen out of the studio while Shen closed the door behind them on the screaming demon.

Drew picked Lex up and ran away from the studio, Naomi and Shen not too far behind with a still unconscious Andy between them. They ran off down the path they took to get to the studio and only stopped running when they could no longer hear Bendy's screams. Their bags were still near the entrance, but no one was too worried about them.

Drew placed Lex on the ground, panting as he did so. "M-man, that s-sure was something!" He wheezed out, trying to catch his breath. Shen and Naomi put Andy down too as they both tried to calm their racing hearts. "Naomi you were so epic back there!"

Naomi blushed and waved a hand in Drew's direction. "Heh, it was nothing. I'm just glad I remembered the flare gun was in your bag!" Said flare gun was still tightly clutched in her hand just in case Bendy decided to come after them.

Lex groaned from her spot on the ground, her damn leg hurt! "I'm just glad I'm not being yanked apart anymore." She muttered, one hand massaging her knee. Lex groaned and fell back, exhausted by her attempts to escape the demon.

_Thank goodness we actually managed to escape!_

Andy, who was not too far from where Lex was, groaned and sat up, one hand rubbing his head. "Oh, what on earth happened?" He said.

Shen smirked from where she was sitting and answered. "Well, we just fought off an ink demon, nothing much." Andy's head snapped up and looked over at Shen. "Truly?

"Yeah dude! Naomi shot a flare into Bendy's face! It was wicked!" Andy blinked. "R-really, dear Naomi-mi did that?"

Naomi huffed and crossed her arms. "Of course! Do you think just cause I'm a nice person I won't be willing to attack someone if I need to?"

"N-not at all! I ju-" Whatever Andy was about to say was cut off by Lex's sudden, loud laughter. Every stared at the wounded girl on the ground as she convulsed with laughter.

"Lex, are you okay?" Naomi asked as she stepped closer to the laughing girl.

"Y-yeah I'm good! I just realized something!" Lex took a breath and continued. "We just became the literal embodiment of the horror trope! It was like something out of a horror game or some kind of FNAF rip off!" She wheezed out. "Demonic ink creature attacks stupid teens, and the ink monster used to be a beloved cartoon character!" She continued cackling.

"I-I believe dear Lexie has finally gone insane."

"I don't think Lex's insanity is what we've gotta worry about."

"What do you mean Shen?" The girl gestured to herself, and then back over to where the bags were.

"Well first we have to explain this mess to our parents, _and_ someone needs to go back and get out bags." Shen looked over at Lex, who was smearing blood and ink all over the grass as she continued to laugh about "stupid horror game tropes". "Plus we need to stop Lex from bleeding all over the place."

That snapped Lex out of her laughing fit. She stared at her ink coated clothes, various cuts, and she could feel the bruises from where Bendy had grabbed her neck beginning to form. Her mother was going to _kill her!_

At least Lex's phone was still working, a bit ink covered, but working nonetheless!

"Oh hell, we're so screwed!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for the kudos! I'm probably going to start posting the Bendy POV for this fic tomorrow, so if you're interested in that keep an eye out for "Intruders"!


	5. The End?

Naomi hummed softly as she walked up to what she considered to be her second home. She knocked on the door and waited, shifting the bag in her hands a little bit. She heard someone open the door and was greeted with the sight of Lex's mother.

"Hey Camren!"

Camren O'Connor had not changed one bit since the last time Naomi had seen her. She was still the same towering women with dark auburn hair and fierce green eyes that her daughter had inherited from her. Camren leaned against the door frame, arms crossed, as she looked down at Naomi.

"I assume you're here for Lex, right?" Naomi nodded. A faint smirk appeared on Camren's face as she moved off to the side, letting the girl enter her home. "Well you're a bit late, everyone else got here ten minutes ago."

Naomi shrugged and entered. "I would have been here sooner, but I wanted to pick something up for Lex." Camren nodded, immediately figuring out what Naomi must have brought for her daughter. "Hm, just make sure you knock some sense into her next time she decides to go out so late, even with you guys."

The older women turned and walked into the kitchen, mumbling something about "stupid muggers" and "idiotic daughter".

The story that they had decided to use as their cover was that they had been walking on some of the more abandoned roads Saturday evening when some random person had jumped them. Lex had immediately started attacking, which was why she was more wounded, until the person got their hands around her neck. Then Shen jumped in and scared the person off.

It was not the best cover story, especially since the police wanted a "detailed description of the suspect" and did not fully explain why everyone had ink all over themselves and their clothes (Lex told the officers that the guy had sprayed them with a bunch of ink for some reason), but it worked.

No one knew about the ink demon haunting the studio, and hopefully no one would bother to check it out. The only downside was that the boards had been broken off the door, but Naomi highly doubted Bendy would leave the door unblocked.

He seemed to hate humans, based on what Lex had told her of their interactions while Bendy had been trying to kill her, and would probably do everything he could to limit contact.

Naomi hoped no one would make the same stupid decision that they did.

She walked through the kitchen/living room and up the stairwell. The first door on her left was cracked open a bit and Naomi could easily hear the others inside. It sounded like Shen and Lex were arguing, _again_.

Naomi opened the door, somewhat muted shouts now fully blasting against her ear drums. "Lex, hold still dammit! You don't need to mess up your knee any more than it already is!"

"But I'm getting tired of just sitting here!"

"Think of this as your punishment then!"

"HOW IN THE BLOODY FUCK IS ANY OF THIS MY FAULT!?"

"YOU SHOUD RUN FASTER NEXT TIME!"

Lex and Shen were both on Lex's bed. Lex was lying down, her wounded knee resting on a pillow with a pack of ice sitting beside it. Shen was next to Lex, occasionally prodding her knee and checking on the various cuts that were still healing.

Naomi winced at the sight of the bruises around Lex's neck. They were a dark purple colour and _very_ ugly to look at. _Well at least that explains why Lex hasn't been in school recently._

Andy and Drew were both sitting on the floor next to Lex's bed. Drew seemed to be pretty amused by the arguing while Andy looked… guilty?

"Andy, it's not your fault Lex got hurt." Andy jumped at Naomi's voice and looked up at the girl. "Dear Naomi-mi, it was my idea and therefore my fault that dear Lexie got hurt." Lex snorted, attracting everyone's attention.

"What's done has been done, so there's no point in thinking about what we could have done different. All we can do now is move forward." Naomi could not hold back the smile that appeared on her face at the long winded "don't blame yourself for my stupidity".

"Or hobble in your case!" Drew teased, making Lex throw a pillow at him. Shen laughed as the pillow managed to hit Drew in the face, knocking the boy over. Andy did not laugh, but Naomi spotted the faint smile on his face.

Naomi walked over to Lex, catching the girl's attention. Lex's eyes lit up as she spotted the bag in Naomi's hands. "Did you really?" She could _feel_ the excitement in Lex's voice.

"Of course!" With a flourish Naomi tossed Lex the packet of Fuzzy Peaches, making the girl shout with joy. "Fuck yes!" She ripped the packet open and almost immediately started eating the sugary treat.

"I love you so much for this, Naomi!"

"Well of course you love her, she's your girlf-" Drew yelped as Lex threw yet another pillow, this one being the one that had supported her knee, at his face. Lex smiled and then winced as she realized she had thrown away her only source of support. "Uh Shen, think you can grab that for me?"

Shen looked downright pissed at the girl's stupidity. "Really?"

"Yes, because I just remembered I need it."

"Nah, I think I'm just gonna let you wallow in pain for a bit."

"Shen! That's not fair!"

"Think of it as your punishment then!" Lex pouted, or got as close to pouting as she could when she realized Shen would not help her. "Naomi, can you pass me the pillow, pleeeease?" Naomi simply laughed at the expression on Lex's face.

Andy, deciding to take pity on the girl, picked up the pillow and walked over to the bed. "Thank you so much Andy, you're my new best friend!" Lex cheered as he put the pillow back in its original position.

"Ah, dear Lexie your thanks is more than enough, I do not wish to replace dear Naomi-mi's position." Andy said, a soft grin on his face. He sat down on the bed, opposite of Shen, and looked over all the wounds the girl had with Shen. Drew started talking to Lex about their most recent gaming match (Mario Kart of course) and argued whether or not Lex's recent victory was bullshit or not.

Naomi grinned as she watched Lex and Drew bicker while Shen and Andy talked about the girl's injuries. Her friends were safe, and they would never, _ever_ go back to that studio ever again. Everything was finally over.

Right?

The Bendy plushie resting on Lex's dresser faced the group of teens, unseeing eyes fixed on their forms. A silent reminder of all that had happened, and all that might occur.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So my dear readers I have a question for you, should this Stupid Decision become a Series of Stupid Decisions, or no?
> 
> In other words please leave a comment telling me if you would like a sequel and/or series based in this universe (I've already gotten a couple asking for a sequel/series on the other site I posted this to), just so I know and can get started on it~
> 
> Once again thank you all so much for the kudos and comments!


	6. Special Preview: Stupid Compassion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here’s a little sneak peak of the next installment in A Series of Stupid Decisions called Stupid Compassion. It’s gonna be Naomi-centric so if you enjoyed Naomi’s character or are curious about who she is, get ready to learn more about her! Of course everyone else will show up too, but it will mainly be focused on Naomi and her point of view!

_I can do this, I can do this!_

The girl stood in front of the door to the abandoned studio. Nothing had changed since she had last been there. It was as rundown as ever, but no ink seemed to be escaping from the building yet.

Naomi considered this to be a good sign, especially considering what she was about to do.

The paper clutched in her hands crinkled a bit as she held it tighter. The note was, hopefully, a promise of peace.

Then again demons were not known for being trustworthy, but she had to do this.

_I can do this!_

A cool breeze blew past her, making her body shudder in the bright sun. It was too cold, too unnatural. It was nearly summer, and yet Naomi swore she could see her breath condensing in the frigid air.

Once again Naomi wished she had told the others about her decision, even though she knew none of them would have let her go through with this.

Lex would have cursed up a storm and followed her wherever she went just to make sure she did not come here. Shen would have dragged her off to the side and harshly scolded her, reminding her of what they had been through. Drew would have immediately told Lex and both of them would keep an eye on her with Drew occasionally distracting her with his cooking. Andy would have just stared at her and asked one simple question,

Why?

Why would she ever decide to do something so stupid? Something that could very easily result in her death, that nearly resulted in the death of her best friend.

Naomi was just glad the bruises had finally faded from around Lex's neck.

_I can do this!_

Naomi could not help herself, could not help the concern she had felt after hearing everything that Lex had told her, concern over something that had tried to main and kill them. She was "stupidly compassionate", as Lex would have said.

Nonetheless, she had made her decision. She looked down at the paper in her hand, the word written upon it in ink.

" _Fine."_

She would be fine, she could do this.

With a sigh Naomi approached the door to the studio and hesitantly placed a hand on the door knob. She could do this.

The door opened with a  _creek_ , no doubt alerting the monster that resided within.

She could do this. She would be fine. She would survive.

And with that final thought, Naomi entered the abandoned studio once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also you guys might have noticed that this work is now part of a series. It might be a good idea to check out the summary if you know what I mean ;)

**Author's Note:**

> I'm still new to this so sorry if I derp up any chapters :3


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